tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45922308222950486562024-03-05T13:53:35.929-06:00dwarven battle medicFannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-77982996629062784132014-11-15T17:51:00.004-06:002014-11-16T13:44:34.729-06:00Queue Queue Queues.<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Carl Sagan</span></blockquote>
<a href="http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/wow-warlords-of-draenor-banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/wow-warlords-of-draenor-banner.png" height="172" width="320" /></a>The new expansion is upon us, the Iron Horde are bashing their shields in a threatening manner, the draenei of Draenor are draenei-ing, and millions of player are clamouring to make their mark on a new world that represents the some of the best content that we've yet seen.<br />
<br />
Or that's the rumour, at least.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine who used to play WoW hardcore but left the game after Wrath asked me how the new expansion was. I replied honestly and said, "I have no idea".<br />
<br />
Like many people I haven't had an opportunity to see the grand vistas of Draenor first hand due to server instability, DDOS attacks by script kiddies with nothing better to do, and obscenely long server queues to get into almost all realms; with the highly populous realms being hit the hardest.<br />
<br />
All of this you know already, assuming that you're reading this and not playing WoW right now you're probably staring at something like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82IvsBCnpdyXY7XiF9XV-fEvYGuBCGxZq-r8uLaZ1WwER700lx2VFzsfRNrdIdXoCHlllyZ2Hvp0LQt4flKS5RskB-vA2xJBzbolMk0q5GS6fLa7twB5WeN8weNE78xHC4IbRnis1Qpg/s1600/queue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82IvsBCnpdyXY7XiF9XV-fEvYGuBCGxZq-r8uLaZ1WwER700lx2VFzsfRNrdIdXoCHlllyZ2Hvp0LQt4flKS5RskB-vA2xJBzbolMk0q5GS6fLa7twB5WeN8weNE78xHC4IbRnis1Qpg/s1600/queue.jpg" height="100" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, I think most people expect that a launch day is going to be busy. When Cataclysm launched the fields of Mount Hyjal were packed with people all trying to do the same quests and getting in each others way, while the quest-givers themselves (Malfurion was the worst) were buried alive under the weight of half a server's population trampling them with their mammoth mounts. In Pandaria I was trapped in a never-ending wave of hozen that would respawn before I finished killing them, leaving me stationary and in constant combat for half an hour.<br />
<br />
These sorts of problems are expected and not a real issue. It's all part of the fun of launch day.<br />
<br />
But the queues. Oh the horrible, horrible queues.<br />
<br />
Can there be anything worse than waiting to play a game that you've been waiting for months to play? Is there anything more disheartening than seeing a line of 5100 people in front of you, and the queue timer telling you that by the time you'll be allowed in you'll need to leave for work because <i>8 hours</i> will have passed?<br />
<br />
Better hope your chair is comfortable.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Joyce Meyer</span></blockquote>
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Having been watching Twitter and some of the forums over the past couple of days, most people have taken this with a fairly good-natured, if somewhat frustrated manner. The DDOS attacks that the servers endured didn't help matters, but I for one assumed that launch day would have some issues--too many people, lots of lag, some bugs that escaped the crucible of beta, and other such inconveniences.</div>
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I did however, expect to be able to log in. It's frustrating to hear people talking about their garrisons, their level-ups, and how great everything looks and <i>oh-by-the-way</i> these new heroic dungeons are awesome, while I am staring at the Queue timer blocking me like a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub who won't let me in because I'm wearing the wrong brand of shoes.</div>
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A lot of criticism has been levelled at Blizzard because of these issues, most of which is unfair, in my opinion. From what it sounds like, DDOS attacks aside, the demand for players to play WoW is more than they've seen in years and more than they ever could have planned for. It seems that something about this expansion has caught the imagination of the playerbase in a way that hasn't happened since Wrath of the Lich King. Maybe it's the concept, the artwork or the relentless TV ads, but it seems that a lot of people are talking about WoW again and more importantly, actively trying to play it.</div>
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It's just a pity that the loading screen boss is the first fight that they're wiping on. </div>
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Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-63031843699822061422013-07-27T18:58:00.000-05:002013-07-27T18:58:04.981-05:00The Mocking Smirk of the Loot Gods<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"What's your luckydo?"</i> - Every Grummle ever</span></blockquote>
<br />
There are some days when I just have to shake my head and smile at the weird way that things work out.<br />
<br />
The thing about random loot drops is, obviously, that they are random and impossible to predict. You might go for weeks without getting drop, or get three great pieces in a row. Call it RNG Hell, the Loot Gods, Bad Luck or whatever, but blame random chance for that one item of gear that you've been unable to upgrade.<br />
<br />
That's where I was last night. My gear was looking pretty good; 522 or better on every single item except for Boots (502 Raid Finder, so at least current tier) and my Shoulders.<br />
<br />
The shoulders were embarrassing: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=86684" target="_blank">[White Tiger Mantle]</a>, my LFR shoulders from <i>last </i>Tier that stubbornly refused to upgrade themselves. Weekly LFR runs of Iron Qon and Primordius and almost daily Heroic Scenario runs in the hopes that I would beat the miniscule odds and get a 516 drop with stats that weren't entirely useless.<br />
<br />
Nothing. The Loot Gods were displeased, apparently.<br />
<br />
I had given up hope completely of ever getting a drop. I was convinced that the drops didn't exist (much like the Shield from Tortos and the Twins, but that's another ranty, <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/search/label/gear%20QQ">Gear QQ</a> post). So I resigned myself to grinding towards Exalted with the Shado-Pan Assault and just buying a set.<br />
<br />
And last night, right after Ji-Kun fell over dead into her own green slime, this popped up:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjLstLxHbjQy10usnJJZmEius2Gki4N_oChbYkPxEdWOYl0rOXUckbEuadAnfYKuvHK6rLF_Ti0vCFruiwZ9yImpDoy7e8IzO5eODrBt_74qrf377d0WMjrvfnydFPJpCcBRHlzcP1xQ/s1600/shadopan_exalted.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjLstLxHbjQy10usnJJZmEius2Gki4N_oChbYkPxEdWOYl0rOXUckbEuadAnfYKuvHK6rLF_Ti0vCFruiwZ9yImpDoy7e8IzO5eODrBt_74qrf377d0WMjrvfnydFPJpCcBRHlzcP1xQ/s1600/shadopan_exalted.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Finally! I was so excited. I wanted to teleport out immediately and buy them, but my raid leader told me to have some damned patience and wait until the end of the raid.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66zTNsJNaGJ4hKPbD3G5UXF04lZjSwvDhkudY8VykU7QXiZjrp0E92Bnb6JRwCP3t7dgvQCwfqXL9O9FCO9E0D3QgSyyihUzDRdskr83_il8pbMZbqls0pYIA6Y2P2OP3Th3Tr_0Vi6E/s1600/thosif.shoulders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66zTNsJNaGJ4hKPbD3G5UXF04lZjSwvDhkudY8VykU7QXiZjrp0E92Bnb6JRwCP3t7dgvQCwfqXL9O9FCO9E0D3QgSyyihUzDRdskr83_il8pbMZbqls0pYIA6Y2P2OP3Th3Tr_0Vi6E/s320/thosif.shoulders.jpg" width="291" /></a>The Loot Gods are bastards, though. After more than two months of waiting and hoping and begging, once I was Exalted and could just buy the damned things and get the suffering over with, what did Primordius drop? Yup: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=94950/spaulders-of-primordial-growth" target="_blank">[Spaulders of Primordial Growth]</a>.<br />
<br />
My raid team all laughed and told me that at least I hadn't spent the money on the reputation gear and would I please finally shut the hell up about shoulders, already?<br />
<br />
Now, you're probably saying, "So what?" This sort of thing happens to us all at one point or another. Random is random, after all.<br />
<br />
But the Loot Gods have a real flair for the ironic. Guess what Iron Qon dropped? Yup! <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=95578" target="_blank">[Shoulders of the Crackling Conquerer]</a>.<br />
<br />
I didn't even bother to roll on them. Yes, they're my best in slot and I would absolutely love to have them...<br />
<br />
But three sets of shoulders in one night is just too much for any Paladin.<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-84134862500359113072013-07-26T12:43:00.001-05:002013-07-26T12:43:24.362-05:00Ahead of the Curve: Lei Shen<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Lay the proud Usurpers low!</i></span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Tyrants fall in every foe!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Liberty's in every blow! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Let us Do or Die! </i> - Robbie Burns,<i> Scots Wha Hae.</i></span><br /><br /><br />I really like my new Raid Team.<br />
<br />
I suppose that they're hardly <i>new </i>any more. I have been raiding with them for three months now, and we've been from one end of the Throne of Thunder to the other. We've exulted in glorious victory together and toiled in hardship and defeat at the hands of our enemies. Good times.<br />
<br />
Interesting factoid: The Snails on the stairs to Ji-Kun have killed more of us than Primordius and The Twin Consorts combined. Adversity, thy name is <i>Gastropod</i>.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I'm really proud to be part of this group. When I joined them—undergeared and ill-prepared—I was understandably nervous about my performance and acceptance into the group. After all, I was replacing the former Raid Leader—also a Holy Paladin—who knew these people, had more experience with the fights and much better gear. Although I would never had admitted it at the time, my greatest fear was that the raid leaders would realize that I was a talentless hack after the first few pulls and ruthlessly relegate me to Non-Raider-Pariah status permanently.<br />
<br />
Isn't it always nice when your Worst Fears don't come true?<br />
<br />
To their credit, the group (and guild in general) made me feel right at home. To me, at least, Acquired Taste was an instant <i>fit</i>.<br />
<br />
It's nice to have a home again.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">AHEAD OF THE CURVE</span><br />
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First of all, I'm really glad that Blizzard has finally implemented this kind of Achievement. It's something I have been advocating for a long time. It finally provides a way to differentiate between people who put in a lot of work to kill a boss while it's current, and the Tourist who goes in after the fact to just look around. I love it!<br />
<br />
Acquired Taste runs two different 10-Man Raid Groups. When I joined the guild both groups were at a very similar point in their progression and there was a healthy rivalry between the two as to who would get the next progression kill. Sadly, the Prime-Time raid always seemed a step ahead of the Late-Night Crew, but I'm proud to say that both groups have managed to down Lei Shen and are 12/12.<br />
<br />
Despite the fact that the Late Night Crew has had a revolving door of people, we've managed to get things done. Doing a quick count in my head I can think of 6 or 7 different tanks we've used, at least as many healers and DPS that come and go before I can even learn their names. But the personality of the group has stayed constant. It's actually remarkable that we've managed to keep steadily progressing with all the turn-over, and (while I hope they don't read this because I wouldn't want to inflate any egos) it's a testament to Ittymar and Amara, our excellent raid leaders.<br />
<br />
We actually downed Lei Shen almost a month ago, but I'm posting this now because last week was special. It was the first week that we downed the entire instance without extending the lockout, and it was the week that I personally got my 12/12 achievement as I had been absent when we first killed Iron Qon and The Twins and the group had extended the lockout to tackle Lei Shen. This week we took them down in order.<br />
<br />
Now we're going to start playing around with Heroic modes, which will be another first for me.<br />
<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">NO ONE'S DEAD SO KEEP YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS</span><br />
<br />
Apparently, our resident Warlock <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/IceNFire09" target="_blank">FRAPSes our raiding nights</a>. This is a first for me; I've never been able to watch myself play the game, and it's especially odd seeing it from another's perspective. It's pretty cool, actually.<br />
<br />
Here is our first Lei Shen kill. Look for the Paladin in the full Tier 9 transmog running through bad stuff and generally being out of place all the time if you want to find me. I'm the one calling the tanks impatient at the beginning if you're interested in what I sound like.<br />
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<iframe align="center" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tj0Bk4hJd0c?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe>
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Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-20591796110856573212013-05-22T00:12:00.000-05:002013-05-22T00:12:00.674-05:00The Bottom End of the Learning Curve<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Which the</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DWARVEN BATTLE MEDIC</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Comes to the</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">STARTLING AND EMBARRASSING REALIZATION </span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That he has Been Playing his Class</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LIKE A TOTAL NUBCAKE.</span></b></div>
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGCdnayuxMU8xQxEizTjJqey66Aw9aYEO2Hic7zF5fmeaFgTjBM_4YM8BYnz47by0TOip3ywh8Rkr0XXTzL2WCoR_67qFm0gACwIP5gtCFab7kzogj8IgQ0CjUToDctiYMbHFiFRkw6g/s1600/dbm_separator.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="13" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGCdnayuxMU8xQxEizTjJqey66Aw9aYEO2Hic7zF5fmeaFgTjBM_4YM8BYnz47by0TOip3ywh8Rkr0XXTzL2WCoR_67qFm0gACwIP5gtCFab7kzogj8IgQ0CjUToDctiYMbHFiFRkw6g/s320/dbm_separator.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Mists of Pandaria</i> has introduced a lot of changes to all the classes, as is normal with any expansion. When <i>Cataclysm</i> launched I spent hours obsessively scouring each PTR patch note and news release for any change. So I had a pretty clear idea of how the rather fundamental changes to the game, and healing in particular, would play out. </div>
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Come <i>Mists</i> and I did none of that. In fact, since it's launch I've spent far more time in my Protection Levelling/Questing/Pull-Twenty-Mobs-And-Mow-Them-Down spec than I have healing.<br />
<br />
So the past few weeks have been spent not only in a frenzied effort to raise my gear level from its former <i>barely-enough-for-LFR</i> level to something that wouldn't completely embarrass me in a normal mode Throne of Thunder 10-Man, but it's also been a steep learning curve to fully understand my class again.<br />
<br />
Big things like Talents I had a pretty decent grasp on, at least in the broad strokes, but in reading up on them in the excellent <i><a href="https://bossypally.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/how-im-healing-in-mop-holy-pally-4eva-talents/" target="_blank">Bossypally Talent Guide</a></i> I realized that some of my choices were less than optimal. Particularly <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114039" target="_blank">Hand of Purity</a>, which had been transformed from middling to awesome since the beginning of the expansion, a talent that I had never really considered before that I now consider an essential tool.<br />
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I also didn't fully appreciate the effect that normalizing Mana would have on Paladins. In all previous expansions, Intellect was a Paladin's no-brainer, <i>don't-even-think-of-gemming-anything-else-dumbass</i>, best Stat. Not so for <i>Mists</i>. Now the once lamented Spirit is a Holy Paladin's best friend, to the point that the once useless Blue Gems are pretty much all I need now. That was a head-scratcher when I first read about it, let me tell you, and it went against two expansions worth of common sense.<br />
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Similarly, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=76669" target="_blank">Mastery</a> is now such a viable gearing strategy that <a href="http://askmrrobot.com/" target="_blank">Ask Mr. Robot</a> considers it the default way to build a Holy Paladin, relegating a Haste-heavy build to the status of the Ugly Cousin that ain't quite right in the head.<br />
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I admit, I took the lazy route this expansion: at the start of <i>Mists</i> I didn't do much in the way of homework on my class, and just kept gearing and gemming and playing the same way I had in <i>Cataclysm</i>.<br />
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But there's nothing like a Raid Boss to quickly show a person just how bad the lazy way is.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">FEET WET IN THE THRONE OF THUNDER</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-2EzgT81w-XH-73B921E9u1UrK0BPzqgvRdQaoWbn_mTeDKOg1VQ_z3fd_aBhPSVSn51BFr6vHARmv74i2DSORD3wrHLufJZw5wusY2lwmJU2JJt4XmmCsftBV0NjCrfW7oHHRZOY3c/s1600/progression_tortos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-2EzgT81w-XH-73B921E9u1UrK0BPzqgvRdQaoWbn_mTeDKOg1VQ_z3fd_aBhPSVSn51BFr6vHARmv74i2DSORD3wrHLufJZw5wusY2lwmJU2JJt4XmmCsftBV0NjCrfW7oHHRZOY3c/s320/progression_tortos.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Staring a progression boss in the face for the first time<br />in a long time. Please ignore the skeletons.</span></td></tr>
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I have officially been a Raider again for three weeks now. My new guild <i><a href="http://taste.guildlaunch.com/" target="_blank">Acquired Taste</a></i> is full of excellent people who were more than willing to help me get geared up, as well as hand-hold me as I learned the new fights. Their help, as well as some getting some long-awaited good loot-luck in LFR, has seen my iLVL rise from 476 to 501 in three short weeks, still on limited play-time. I'm managing to keep up with the other healers, despite my still-inferior gear.<br />
<br />
But lordy, it's been a challenge. Walking on to a raid team that had three bosses on farm that I had never before encountered or even studied, being expected to contribute in a meaninful way and not hold the raid back, all while sporting <i>several</i> blues and one or two PVP gear pieces. Not to mention that this is a brand new guild for me and I'm still in my probation period, so if I don't impress I run the risk of losing not just my raid spot but potentially my new guild as well. But hey, no pressure, right?<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
In the end I think I've done pretty well. The first week we downed <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Tortos" target="_blank">Tortos</a> for the first time, and we followed it up with a last pull of the night, three-people-left-standing <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Megaera" target="_blank">Megaera</a> kill the week after. Our third week saw <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Ji-Kun" target="_blank">Ji-Kun</a> fall, with the Battle Medic on nest-healing duties.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">FEELIN' GROOVY</span><br />
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It's felt great to be back raiding again. The people I'm with are great, the Throne of Thunder raid is excellent and it's nice to finally be caught up with the game again and to feel like I've got things under control.<br />
<br />
What? Patch 5.3 dropped <i>today</i>? It's got a whole bunch of new stuff to figure out, two new epic questlines and dozens more dailies to do?<br />
<br />
<i>Son of a bitch.</i><br />
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Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-64709419972375025242013-04-26T18:06:00.000-05:002013-04-26T18:14:20.752-05:00The Long Road Back<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Which the</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">DWARVEN BATTLE MEDIC</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Attempts to Reconcile</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CERTAIN LAMENTABLE EVENTS </span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and Makes a </span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">FATEFUL DECISION.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGCdnayuxMU8xQxEizTjJqey66Aw9aYEO2Hic7zF5fmeaFgTjBM_4YM8BYnz47by0TOip3ywh8Rkr0XXTzL2WCoR_67qFm0gACwIP5gtCFab7kzogj8IgQ0CjUToDctiYMbHFiFRkw6g/s1600/dbm_separator.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="13" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGCdnayuxMU8xQxEizTjJqey66Aw9aYEO2Hic7zF5fmeaFgTjBM_4YM8BYnz47by0TOip3ywh8Rkr0XXTzL2WCoR_67qFm0gACwIP5gtCFab7kzogj8IgQ0CjUToDctiYMbHFiFRkw6g/s320/dbm_separator.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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For reasons that I cannot quite understand, this expansion hasn't really caught my imagination. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of really great things about this expansion; I'm really impressed with the levelling experience, for example, and the visuals are spectacular—probably the best that WoW has ever done. Mists of Pandaria has humour, great stories and a lot of things to do. But it just hasn't captured me: I <i>like</i> Pandaria, but I'm not really <i>excited</i> about Pandaria. And I don't know why.<br />
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Actually, I think I can make a guess. I think it has something to do with the fact that I have no goal to achieve this expansion.<br />
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Once I hit 90 I simply felt lost. Run a few heroics, get some decent gear, start running LFR. Once that was done, then what? Dailies? To what end? What is the point of gearing up a character if not to raid? It becomes rather like a girl dressing up in her best ballgown, twirling in front of her mirror night after night because she knows she's never going to get the chance to go to the dance.<br />
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At the risk of beating the same old dead horse and paraphrasing real-life Forsaken zombie <a href="http://erickbrockway.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/james-carville.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">James Carville</a>, "<i>IT'S THE RAIDING, STUPID</i>".<br />
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Since January when some tumultuous real-life changes hit the Battle Medic household, I have essentially been taking a sabbatical from my Paladin. I've spent very little time playing WoW since then, and the vast majority of it has been on various different Alts on various different servers. Alt levelling, low level PVP, dipping my foot in the dark side of Horde levelling. Basically <i>anything</i> other than logging onto my main.</div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">THE LOW POINT</span></div>
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So imagine my surprise when I finally do log in only to discover that my guild has transferred servers. And they went Horde as well. Double whammy.</div>
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It was a surprise, to say the least. The letter that is automatically sent from Blizzard is a terse slap in the face as far as notifications go. In fairness to the guild, I wasn't around so it's certainly not their fault that I didn't know—the website had plenty of info and I'm sure it was discussed at length in Mumble. So I don't blame them and wish them all the best on Mal'Ganis as damned, dirty Hordies.</div>
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But it did leave me feeling rather abandoned and alone. And it got me wondering whether or not I still enjoy this game enough to be paying my fifteen bucks a month for the privilege.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBV9B2lze9kJS5Mxj6XL7qq1a9YgRrpiB1Dley2EiF7iAFNJTQdLbwv8LaHTCwHZmXKzUyx4cLQKNaWBpWkx_M_XA5JX1Nop46cinV75s-agzHtB-1qPb990uoOpCEyFc_IDTLCmtuQ0/s1600/thosif.blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBV9B2lze9kJS5Mxj6XL7qq1a9YgRrpiB1Dley2EiF7iAFNJTQdLbwv8LaHTCwHZmXKzUyx4cLQKNaWBpWkx_M_XA5JX1Nop46cinV75s-agzHtB-1qPb990uoOpCEyFc_IDTLCmtuQ0/s320/thosif.blues.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blues just ain't gonna cut it anymore.</td></tr>
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As it turns out, <i>fuck yeah!</i> I do.<br />
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Time to get back to work and start gearing in preparation for raiding. I'm way behind and I've got a long way to go, but damn, I'm looking forward to the challenge. I've just joined up with a new guild that has a late-night raid team that should work around the Dwarfling's schedule, and importantly, seem like fun people to be around. A fresh start, so to speak.<br />
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Look for more from <i>Battle Medic</i> in the very near future. I'm certain I'm going to have a lot to talk about.</div>
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Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-36707115195143744962012-12-13T01:08:00.001-06:002012-12-13T01:10:00.859-06:00Year The Second: An Unexpected JourneyI'm a little rusty at this, so you'll have to bear with me a bit.<br />
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I almost didn't realize it, but Tuesday was the second anniversary of the creation of Dwarven Battle Medic. It's an occasion that deserves celebration but is marred by the dust on everything around here and the conspicuous lack of party guests.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still, it's totally worth it.</td></tr>
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There are many reasons why I haven't been posting much lately, and for the sake of your sanity I'm not going to get into them. Suffice it to say that real life has fundamentally altered how I play the game.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">LIFE WITHOUT RAIDING</span><br />
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Raiding, once my passion and purpose within in the game, is no longer possible. Scheduled, uninterrupted time simply doesn't exist.<br />
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This fact has been the largest contributing factor to the stagnation of Battle Medic: without raiding, what is there to talk about? Looking back on my past posts, I talked <i>a lot</i> about raiding. As a WoW player, being a successful raider (at least, within my own goals) was something I took immense pride in, worked hard to achieve and thoroughly enjoyed. As a result I've had to find other things to do to make my play time enjoyable. It's been a hard adjustment.<br />
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Gone are the days where I had a meticulously crafted gearing plan and would chain heroics in order to achieve it. No more meticulous research on mechanics, strategies or min-max gobbledegook. No more pressure to get to a point where I could contribute without letting my Guild or Raid Team down. Instead, I've been playing at a very relaxed pace. And once I got my head around the fact that I am, even if it is against my will, a non-raider, I've been enjoying myself quite a bit.<br />
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It's kinda nice not to have any pressure.<br />
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But the really interesting thing that is only now just dawning on me is that it brings me full circle to the way I played when I was initially levelling up my first characters. Before I hit max-level for the first time I would never look ahead or research or do anything that would take away from the joy of discovering what comes next. It was, in many ways, a very innocent time. A time when I could enjoy the game on my own terms and not have to worry about whether I was DOING IT RIGHT because it simply didn't matter as long as I was having fun. That's the mindset that I discovered, or rather rediscovered, as I trekked through Pandaria.<br />
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So as the second year of Battle Medic winds down and a new one begins I find myself in the strangely familiar position of enjoying the slow, immersive solo game and yet wanting to do more. Now, how do I write about that?<br />
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<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-20421295479079663512012-09-05T23:11:00.002-05:002012-09-05T23:11:12.009-05:00A Good Day<br />
Over the past month or more I admit that I have been neglecting poor, ol' Battle Medic, and not without more than a little guilt. I have not, however, been neglecting the game entirely. I have been sneaking and conspiring, negotiating and stealing rare moments to indulge in Azeroth playtime whenever there was an opportunity.<br />
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And the majority of that time has been spent blowing stuff up. <i>Mage</i>-style. Warlocks beware.<br />
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My little gnomish pyromaniac has slowly and painstakingly progressed into the mid-60s and is slogging through the mire that is the Outlands.<br />
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Anyway, today was a good day. I have been intermittently fishing the high, lonely lakes of Terrokar Forest for the Mysterious Mr. Pinchy for a long time now. Every single skill point in Fishing that my Shaman has achieved has come in the futile hunt for this nearly-mythological crustacean. But no luck. Never even a sniff.<br />
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Until today.<br />
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Today was a good day.<br />
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<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-13456875534437960302012-07-19T17:21:00.000-05:002012-07-19T18:38:19.806-05:00Sightseeing and Raiding Achievements<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."</i> - Albert Einstein</span></blockquote>
Perhaps one of the more lamentable facts of life when it comes to World of Warcraft raiding is that as each new tier of content comes out, the raids and dungeons of previous tiers tend to get quickly abandoned like an awkwardly phrased metaphor. This phenomena typically gets worse the older a raid is until the only time people will visit is to do the raiding equivalent of sightseeing. Now that's all fine and good if the purpose is simply to revisit a raid that has been completed previously for the sake of nostalgia, but what about someone going in to see a dungeon for the first time?<br />
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There are some magnificently complex and wonderful encounters in these old raids. The truly sad thing is that the typical sightseer will go in as an overlevelled and overgeared wrecking machine and rip through these old bosses with the same level of delicacy as it would take to open a Chunky Soup can with a stick of dynamite. Bosses die and encounters are completed with no regard to the very mechanics and elements that make the fights actually interesting. The end result is that the player smacks around some poor, lonely, underpowered bosses and gets the achievement for completing the raid, but doesn't actually experience or understand the raid on anything but the most superficial level. It's rather like going to Paris and never leaving the McDonalds in the airport; you get the stamp on your passport to say you've been there but can't really say much other than the hamburgers are awful.<br />
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Sadly, this essentially renders the Raid achievements and the titles that are associated with them meaningless. <br />
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Take my Shaman and Paladin as examples. My shaman wears the<i> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3036">Starcaller</a></i> title for defeating Algalon. She got it long after Ulduar was relevant, as an 85 in a full raid of level 85s. I defeated the encounter but really don't have an appreciation of what the fight is all about, nor does the title have any true emotional value; it just looks neat.<br />
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My Paladin, Thosif, on the other hand, typically wears his <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=4530" target="_blank"><i>Kingslayer</i></a> title with pride. I earned that title with my previous guild Shadowgarde through a lot of hard work and effort while the encounter was still the pinnacle of raiding (Halion just doesn't count and everybody knows it). The title and the achievement have meaning to me precisely because I feel that I earned them. The fact that a person can take a group of 85s and blitz their way through Icecrown Citadel in an hour and get the title makes it feel a little less special as well; I know I earned it, but others would probably just assume I got it the easy way.<br />
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Now, before anyone gets huffy and starts calling me an elitist, this is just how I feel about it personally. There are lots of reasons that people like going into old raids and dungeons at high levels, and I am certainly don't want to take anyone's fun away. But for me, the thrill of raiding comes from the challenge, and if I'm going to experience a raid for the first time, that's how I'd prefer to see it.<br />
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The obvious problem is that it's virtually impossible to get a group of people at the appropriate level in the appropriate gear together at the same time to run an old raid. Very few people will halt their levelling progress on a new alt long enough to gear him to run a raid, and even if someone did it's unlikely that they would be able to find enough other people who were doing that at the same time. It comes down to motivation: There simply is no incentive to do an older raid at the proper level. It's much simpler to either get a guildmate or two to run your alt through it, or wait until you're maximum level.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">THE TEMPLATE: <i>HERALD OF THE TITANS</i></span><br />
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There is, however, one singular achievement (technically a Feat of Strength) that a sightseeing raider can't get: <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=3316/herald-of-the-titans" target="_blank">Herald of the Titans</a>. This little gem of an achievement requires a player to be the appropriate level as well as have the appropriate gear for the encounter. No overpowered tourists allowed.<br />
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This title is unique in that it is only available for a limited time while a character is level 80 and once you've passed that threshold you're out of luck on that character. If you want the title now, you're going to have to pause your XP, gear up your level 80 alt and find a group willing to go with you and kill the encounter the old fashioned way.<br />
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In essence, what this achievement does is make this single old raid encounter <i>permanently relevant</i>.<br />
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This achievement is not new—it's been around since Ulduar itself—but as we move into the new expansion I think it can give Blizzard a template for future raids. Why couldn't each new raid tier have a meta achievement with similar requirements to Herald of the Titans, each one with a unique and desirable vanity reward such as a mount or pet? The players that are running it while it's current would get it as a matter of course, but it could give people reasons to run the previous tier with their alts using the proper gear even after it is no longer the cutting edge. This would allow people to get the feeling of Burning Crusade and Vanilla raiding (of having to progress through each tier sequentially) <i>if they want it</i>, but would not actually require anyone to do it if they didn't feel like it.<br />
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And while we're on the subject, why couldn't Blizzard add similar achievements to older raids? Why not bring the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=431" target="_blank">Hand of Adal </a>title back, but require that only a level 70 in a level 70 raid group could get it? How difficult would it be to reinstate the <i><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2186" target="_blank">Immortal</a> </i>and<i> <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=2187" target="_blank">Undying</a> </i>titles from Naxxramas with a character and item level restriction? What would be the effect of a Karazahn achievement that awards a miniature <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/The_Big_Bad_Wolf" target="_blank">Wolfman</a> or <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Strawman" target="_blank">Strawman</a> pet? Would there be a massive move towards creating level 70 raiding teams on Twitter to farm this beloved raid instance? If the rewards were unique enough, the hardcore would likely start frothing at the mouth to get alts to the proper level to get them.<br />
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Hell, a new Lady Vashj title might even make <a href="http://kurn.apotheosis-now.com/" target="_blank">Kurn</a> resubscribe for Mists.<br />
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Blizzard has made a big fuss about making sure that there is lots of things to do at maximum level, but adding a couple of these little achievements and rewards scattered through the beloved and excellent older content would give people things to do <i>before</i> max level that are equally important to do. Right now, the content is massively weighted towards the maximum level, and that is by design, but that also means that—by design—there is a massive amount of content that the <i>vast</i> majority of people will never get a chance to experience properly.<br />
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With the advent of <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/2012/01/cross-realm-raiding-and-crystal-ball.html" target="_blank">Cross-Realm Raiding</a> and soon <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/2012/05/repopulating-old-world-cross-realm.html" target="_blank">Cross-Realm Zones</a> there will potentially be lots of players who might be interested in halting their levelling progression on an alt in order to do some older raiding for their one shot at a unique reward. It may help remove the pressure to level as quickly as possible just so that there's something that they can do with their friends, and allow people to stop, smell the roses and actually <i>experience the content</i> that's out there in this big, virtual world of ours.<br />
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<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-82349960901022903982012-07-13T13:01:00.000-05:002012-07-13T13:01:26.023-05:00The Lament for Theramore<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Thee Theramore! O sadly lost!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Alliance lament frae coast to coast.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Now war grips, the barking host</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>May kill us a';</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>For noble Jaina's fabl'd post,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Is ta'en awa'.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dwarvish Lament for Theramore *</span><br />
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It is the worst kept secret in the World of Warcraft that Theramore is going to be destroyed in the pre-expansion event leading up to the release of the Mists of Pandaria expansion. The details are still unknown, but the destruction of the city will change the Alliance's position in Kalimdor drastically. At this point it's unclear as to whether Theramore will be in Alliance or Horde hands, whether it will remain a quest hub or become an instanced scenario of some kind, or just be left as a smoking, purple glowing crater in the ground.<br />
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And while others (ahem, <a href="http://www.orcisharmyknife.com/2011/11/what-theramores-destruction-will-mean.html">Rades</a>) have speculated on what the destruction of will mean to the Alliance from a lore perspective, I want to talk about what it's going to mean from my perspective as a life-long Alliance player.<br />
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What brought this topic to mind is that I was watching this video of what Theramore will look like after the Horde have their way with it. It broke my heart a little bit. <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DUSTWALLOW MARSH</span><br />
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Even the name isn't really evocative of a place you'd choose to go willingly, and certainly Dustwallow Marsh isn't exactly a vacation spot. It's not pretty or scenic. In fact, it's downright dreary and just plain creepy; the sort of place you'd expect a spider to drop down out of the trees at any moment as you're walking through it. As a player, I get an ominous feeling when adventuring in Dustwallow, particularly in places like the Wyrmbog with it's wandering Dragonkin, Witch Hill and the spirits that eternally haunt it, and Darkmist Cavern with it's endless supply of eight-legged beasties.<br />
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In stark contrast to the impenetrable depths of the Swamp stands proud Theramore, a small but gleaming (relative to the rest of the marsh, at least) Alliance city perched precariously on an island. Compared to the rest of Dustwallow and Southern Kalimdor, to the Alliance player Theramore seemed like a bright shining beacon of civilization jutting out of the literal middle of nowhere. It was the essential travel hub for an Alliance player looking to get anywhere on Kalimdor since the only other town with connections to the Eastern Kingdoms was in Auberdine (now Lor'danel) and trying to get to some of the more far-flung areas (I'm looking at you, Gadgetzan) could result in a half-hour long hippogriff ride and a good chance to catch up on some reading.<br />
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Theramore was also the main quest hub for Dustwallow, and for a lot of players like myself it was the first time setting foot on the Kalimdor continent after following a breadcrumb quest from a bloke eternally standing on the Menethil dock asking whomever walks by to deliver something to the Inn there. <br />
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Now, I can't really speak to how other people level their characters, but I always made a point to go through Dustwallow with my characters. It just seemed a more natural and interesting place to go after the Wetlands than Arathi Highlands or the Badlands. I always liked the stories that were told in Dustwallow during it's first iteration. The Shady Rest Inn storyline was particularly moving, with a great emotional pay-off at the end. I've always liked the chain of quests at Swamplight Manor to cleanse "Swamp Eye" Jarl. And of course who can forget setting the raptors loose on the unsuspecting Grimtotem?<br />
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It's a zone that reminds me a lot of one of my other other favourite zones, Duskwood. It has the same kind of creepy, foreboding atmosphere to it that I like so much. And both zones had an insane amount of running back and forth before they were mercifully streamlined in Cataclysm. And all of those great memories started in poor, doomed Theramore.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">THE COMING DOOM</span><br />
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With the impending destruction of Theramore there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of Dustwallow as it continues it's transition from sleepy, moody swamp that felt very insignificant in the grand scheme of the world to the front lines of an all-out war with the Horde. What will become of the small stories? Who's going to take the time to cleanse Jarl of his demonic possession in the middle of a battlefield? Is someone going to walk "Stinky" Ignatz home with Horde siege engines laying waste to the landscape? <br />
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But all that having been said, why do a lot of Alliance players lament the loss of this town so much?</div>
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Well, it's been talked about to death, but during the early stages of the War (represented by the Cataclysm expansion) the Alliance has been getting the hell kicked out of it. Southshore lost, massive horde incursions into the Night Elf homelands of Ashenvale and minor ones in Darkshore, the loss of Andorhol after the Scourge were finally defeated, and our new allies in Gilneas turned to homeless refugees forced to live in a tree by the Forsaken war machine. To the Alliance player, Cataclysm has been one iron-booted kick in the nuts after another.</div>
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Now we're losing Theramore. <i>Whump</i>. That's gonna sting the ol' Dwarf Potatoes.<br />
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I think that for me, at least, losing Theramore is going to make Kalimdor feel a lot less friendly and much more foreign. It's hostile enemy territory now, with no real safe havens worth mentioning for the Alliance. Go away, Dwarves, you are not welcome here.<br />
<br />
But in all honesty, the real reason that people are complaining about the loss of Theramore has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with human psychology: People embrace the familiar and fear the unknown. Things that we know are comforting. And in this terrifying new world of conflict, destruction and all-out factional war that MoP is bringing with it people are naturally going to cling to those things that remind us of a simpler, better time of relative peace.<br />
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You know, when all we had to worry about was an <a href="http://www.wowpedia.org/Scourge" target="_blank">innumerable, unstoppable undead army</a> that was going to take over the entire world and suck out our brains. The good ol' days.<br />
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* <i>Adapted from Robert Burns' poem </i><a href="http://www.robertburns.org/works/84.shtml">Old Scotch Drink</a>.<br />
<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-17458149437838430262012-06-30T11:15:00.000-05:002012-06-30T11:17:15.702-05:00Azeroth Photo Tour: Arathi Highlands<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">INTRODUCING THE GREAT AZEROTH PHOTO TOUR</span><br />
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Over the next few weeks and months I am going to go on the <i>Great Azeroth Photo Tour</i>. I'm going to visit each zone in the game (in Alphabetical order) and create images of the most beautiful sights and places in each of the zones. I may, if I feel like it, add commentary on the zones or images as well. My hope is that I can get the entirety of Blizzard's magnificent fantasy world completed before Mists of Pandaria is released. I will be updating the <i>Photo Tour</i> on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">ARATHI HIGHLANDS</span><br />
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Stepping over the magnificent Thandol Span and in to the Arathi Highlands for the first time one is struck by an overwhelming sense of emptiness. Gently rolling hills covered in grasses and thistle with bare rock jutting through the turf; you can almost feel the wind rushing through the zone unmolested by any trees to block its path. It's a zone that feels hushed and solitary.<br />
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There is very little in the way of civilization here. One lone Horde town that hasn't changed much from the prison that it originally was, a couple of camps and farm houses, and the ancient, crumbling ruins of a once-great city that is now in the process of tearing itself apart from the inside-out as three different factions vie for control of it.<br />
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The most remarkable thing about the Highlands is the mysterious circles of standing stones scattered about, seemingly at random: Huge monoliths impossibly stacked and arranged for purposes that are their own, and surrounded by vicious elementals that make discovering their true meaning hazardous.<br />
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The Arathi Highlands is a zone that time forgot. Not just for the lonesome and abandoned feel of it, but also because it is one of the few zones that did not get revamped after the Cataclysm. If you visit, keep your voice down; loud noises feel distinctly out of place in the lonesome and desolate highlands.<br />
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</div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-51630078912620822642012-05-11T12:27:00.000-05:002012-05-11T12:54:01.000-05:00Repopulating the Old World: Cross Realm Zones<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sometimes I think you want me to touch you.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">How can I when you build the great wall around you?</span></i><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">- Tori Amos, <i>China</i></span><br />
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<br />
In a move that surprised everyone, Blizzard has announced that they are going to begin testing <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/222499-cross-realm-zones-coming-to-beta" target="_blank">Cross Realm Zones</a> in the Mists of Pandaria Beta. I <i>love</i> this idea like a big sloppy Dwarfling kiss, and given the <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/2012/05/joy-of-lowbies.html" target="_blank">subject of my last post</a>, the timing of this announcement is particularly serendipitous.<br />
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I am a unrepentant Wrath Baby; I created my first character in the very twilight of the Burning Crusade expansion, mere months before Wrath of the Lich King went live. Because of this I have never experienced the Old World as the thriving, vibrant place that it was in Vanilla.<br />
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For me and thousands of other people who joined the game late, levelling in World of Warcraft is a solitary experience. The wilderness of Azeroth outside of the major cities is filled with bears and bandits and monsters of all types, but even on busy, highly populous servers, meeting another character is something of a rare occurrence. It's a lonely life, being a lowbie in Azeroth, but the new Cross Realm Zones aim to change that.<br />
<br />
The way that Blizzard is trying to implement this is quite brilliant, if you ask me. Basically, certain realms will be linked together based on population, and each of those realms will share certain zones that are flagged as "Cross Realm". Using the Barrens as an example, a character on Sargeras would walk out of a realm-exclusive Orgrimmar into a Barrens shared by 5 other servers, and would see and interact with characters from all of those realms normally, just as if they were all on the same server. At the same time, Blizzard will have the ability to keep highly populated zones (Cities, to be sure) exclusive. This way Stormwind won't be crushed under the weight of thousands of people standing at the fountain oogling the fifteen thousand naked Night Elves dancing on the mailboxes.<br />
<br />
I think this feature is fantastic. Not just a technically brilliant solution to make an older technology scale and adapt to the changing reality of the current, max-level focused state of the game, but also as a step to the ultimate goal of eliminating realms completely. <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/2012/01/cross-realm-raiding-and-crystal-ball.html" target="_blank">I talked about this back in January</a>, but the elimination of the barrier walls around the different realms is a very clever way for Blizzard to extend the life of the game. Right now, if Blizzard chooses to do so, the only realm-specific areas are the main cities, the Auction House and any zone that is going to be populated enough not to be a concern like the Cataclysm zones and the new Mists of Pandaria zones.<br />
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As a social, massively multiplayer game, it is always a little bit odd to run around the world outside of the two major faction cities of Stormwind and Orgrimmar and see, well, nothing. By repopulating the Old World, new players will finally get an experience that is close to what older players experienced when WoW was new and when having a maximum level character was rare: A world that is full of people to interact with.<br />
<br />
It really doesn't matter that there are no group quests in the game any more, nor is there any real need to team up with people to defeat the quests that people are given. Having a lot of people busily running around doing there own thing is <i>exciting</i>. It adds an immense amount of <i>flavour</i> to the game.<br />
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Like the bustling sidewalks of downtown New York, it's all about vibrancy and life and activity; it's about the <i>soul </i>of this game, which is missing in the low level zones. Bringing that kind of life back to zones other than the cities is going to go a long way to help make new players—and old players who love lowibe alts like myself—remain excited about this game for years to come.<br />
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After all, it is <i>World</i> of Warcraft<i>. Bravo, </i>Blizzard. Well played.<br />
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<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-73579943513682571252012-05-10T13:41:00.002-05:002012-05-10T13:43:59.079-05:00The Joy of Lowbies<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"It strikes! one, two,<br />Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch,<br />Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now sleep and rest;<br />Would thou could'st make the time to do so too;<br />I'll wind thee up no more."</i> - Ben Jonson <i>The Staple of News</i></span><br />
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As I <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.ca/2012/05/to-beta-or-not-to-beta.html" target="_blank">mentioned in my last post</a>, I don't have much in the way of free, unimpeded time to dedicate to WoW these days.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only raid boss that I attempt these days;<br />
believe me, this is a fight with a lot of movement.</td></tr>
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I'm sad to say that such an odd, irregular and easily interrupted schedule is not one that is conducive to raiding. Over the past couple of months or so my level 85s have withered due to neglect. My regular raiding has completely ground to a halt after going 8/8 on two toons with no heroic bosses down at all.<br />
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With only an hour or so of available time in an evening, running dungeons or LFR seem like an exhausting, implacable mountain to climb and not worth the effort. Doing daily quests gets very boring very quickly. Maximum level PVP is new and scary and intriguing, but would require a fair bit of effort to get the gear that would allow me to survive for more than the brief moment between when an enemy sees me and when he decides that I should be dead.<br />
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So what's a Dwarf to do?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE JOY OF LOWBIES</span><br />
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I am an Altaholic, but not in the usual way. I am in a guild with several people who I would consider the norm for extreme cases of Altaholism: They tend to create an alt and focus intently on it until it reaches max level before giving a new one any real attention. Consequently, they have a lot of max level characters and characters that are well on their way there.<br />
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I am a little different. I have dozens of low level characters of every race and every class scattered around 10 or 12 different servers. Not including the Death Knights (only one of which I've ever gotten out of the starting zone; he's level 62), only a couple of these characters are above level 25. My highest level Horde character ever just dinged 18. Seriously.<br />
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I really enjoy low level characters and low level questing. There is something very compelling about boiling a class down to its very essence and seeing it naked and helpless in its infancy. In those initial levels each class is very similar: Uncomplicated, pure, and a joy to play. To see which skills are learned and when, and to discover how to use each new skill and see the way a class gradually becomes more complex is very intriguing.<br />
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I'm not really clear as to why, but I seem to hit a brick wall between level 14 and level 20. In the mid-teens the class will have taken shape and while many important and class defining abilities are yet to come, the fundamental structure of how the class is played is evident. For me, at least, this is when the experiment to test my attitude towards a class feels as if it's run its course.<br />
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As well, it's at that point that a character is out of the starting zones and into the next areas (Barrens, Westfall, etc). These zones are larger and more involved than the starting zones and feel more general and less specific to the character. This is when my mindset changes from, "This is a fun toy to play with," to "Oh gawd, I have <i>how many freakin' levels to go?!?</i>". Taking a character through these zones begins to firmly cement the notion in my head that I'm committing to the grind to get the character up to max level; a long and daunting process, especially for someone who levels as slowly as I do. Therefore, any character that makes it past that barrier and hits 20 is one that—in my head, at least—has been selected to survive and make the slow journey to level cap.<br />
<br />
I have really only levelled a couple of different characters past this breaking point. My first character, a hunter, got to level 48 before he was abandoned and left to rot as I switched servers. My Warrior, Priest and Paladin all got to max level in Wrath, and two of them have gone onto 85. Thallie, my Shaman and current raiding main (the cobwebs on her are, at least, fresh) was the first character I created when Cataclysm launched and is the only one that I have managed to take to max level since then. So many more have failed this litmus test and remain unlevelled and unloved.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUD53paxXVkvpJW4JGiS6q84zlIagP-GgwP4EI1EsWySIuhqExdMviXSQitDWoRhD049xVsGLiGW-xfIECRIdbqj0KnOy223Q8AbxMPrMV1uMFWCIt7KxltgKH5OoOLVtZ5x3lXqM6m7Q/s1600/Arceneault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUD53paxXVkvpJW4JGiS6q84zlIagP-GgwP4EI1EsWySIuhqExdMviXSQitDWoRhD049xVsGLiGW-xfIECRIdbqj0KnOy223Q8AbxMPrMV1uMFWCIt7KxltgKH5OoOLVtZ5x3lXqM6m7Q/s320/Arceneault.jpg" width="170" /></a>It seems that the decision to go past the level 20 barrier is a significant one for me. It is a mental commitment to that character; a commitment to learn and master the nuances of the class at the very highest levels. However, if the class, or the character's name or the server or anything else doesn't feel right, then that character is doomed to a shadowy half-life of neglect. Not to be deleted, but doomed to sit in the Inn at Sentinel Hill or at The Crossroads with pitiful white or grey gear, never to be the hero that they could be due to the capriciousness of my whimsy.<br />
<br />
So having said all that, with a fervent desire to play but with limited play time in which to do it, I have been spending a lot of time with my low level Alts lately. Some have pushed past the elusive and mysterious Level 20 and have become, at least in my mind, actual characters, whilst some are still merely interesting toys to experiment with. It's been a lot of fun, and I've been indulging myself by seeing areas of the game and doing activities that I've never done before. It's as good a way as any to ride out the end of this expansion, at least until the raid healing bug bites me again.<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-44644641127689987952012-05-04T18:54:00.000-05:002012-05-24T17:04:54.800-05:00To Beta or Not to Beta<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"It is my desire ... to do nothing which I cannot do with my whole heart. Having said this, I have said all." - </i>Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></blockquote>
<br />
I'm sure this post will frustrate a lot of people who have been anxiously awaiting their Mists of Pandaria beta invite, if there is anyone left who doesn't have one.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByiSyU3Fd3b6UXk2egQspl1EEsrJeTjz3yF2LbOoli82c-xuPksYf9XsLbEmRZKmO5vlVOaqvGgtMeuz0AIFyqLjnCvLJx_iYhJP3QAbkgykFLbozzZ7nGs2AGTGvyMqkoGYjh77LLD0/s1600/mists-of-pandaria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByiSyU3Fd3b6UXk2egQspl1EEsrJeTjz3yF2LbOoli82c-xuPksYf9XsLbEmRZKmO5vlVOaqvGgtMeuz0AIFyqLjnCvLJx_iYhJP3QAbkgykFLbozzZ7nGs2AGTGvyMqkoGYjh77LLD0/s320/mists-of-pandaria.jpg" width="320" /></a>As a Annual Pass subscriber I knew that I was going to receive a Beta Invitation eventually as it is one of the perks of committing to keeping a WoW account active for a year. It ain't all about shiny horsies, after all. When it finally did arrive I was thrilled; I had never had a closed-beta invite to <i>anything</i> before so this was something new. I was always a little jealous of people who could claim that they started WoW in the beta, so this was my chance to get into something at the very beginning.<br />
<br />
Of course, as a blogger, the beta of a new expansion provides a vast new range of subjects to talk about. There are a lot of changes coming that need to be discussed and opined on, not to mention entirely new and gorgeous vistas that are awaiting my virtual, gnomish-engineered camera. There are endless topics in the beta to write about because the beta itself changes constantly. No blogger in their right mind would pass up the such a rich source of writing material, would they?<br />
<br />
Well, perhaps I'm not in my right mind, but after the initial excitement I've decided not to participate in the Beta.<br />
<br />
Don't hate me if you don't have one yet, let me explain...<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">NO TIME FOR LOVE, DOCTOR JONES</span><br />
<br />
With the great heaving chaos that is my life right now, any chance I get to play WoW is a rare and beautiful thing. It often comes in the few fleeting moments between when the Dwarfling is put to bed and the daily chores are done (which means cleaning up the swath of destruction that she leave in her wake) and when I go to bed. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes less. And sometimes all I can manage is to stagger to the couch and pass out, leaving the great, menacing evil-doers of Azeroth unmolested for a night.<br />
<br />
There are two great drawbacks to spending my very limited amount of playtime on a Beta server as opposed to the Live servers. One is that everything that is done in the Beta is transient because it will be reset to zero when the Beta ends and the expansion is launched. So any time and effort that I put into a Beta character is wasted and I think better spent progressing my characters on the Live Realms.<br />
<br />
The other drawback has to do with the eternal frustration of crashes and inconvenient bugs. There is nothing more infuriating than having a glitch cost precious time when on a limited play schedule. I don't think I could handle the instability of the Beta. I think it would create far more tension than it would solve for me. And I get enough of that with the low level PVP that I've been indulging in lately.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE TEXTURE OF ANTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE</span><br />
<br />
The other, less concrete reason has to do with spoilers. I'm the type of person who values the quality of the experience as much as the experience itself. <i>How</i> something is done is just as important as doing the thing itself. A Beta, with all the bugs and unfinished bits, is not a great way to see content for the first time if the texture of the experience is a primary concern. Seeing things perfectly polished in their final forms is what I'm after, and if that means waiting, then so be it.<br />
<br />
However, the other side of this particular coin is that on launch day it is going to be virtually impossible to see things the way they should be seen. The giant crush of people descending on the new zones will make things chaotic and mucky, as has happened with every expansion so far. The Pandaren starting zone is going to be wall-to-wall bear butts competing for the same quest mobs and objectives, people will be griefing with their gigantic mounts on top of quest-givers and things are going to be in a general state of higgledy-piggledy. Not really the best way to experience brand new content either, is it?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">ON THE OTHER HAND...</span><br />
<br />
Of course, when I see things like this I can't help but be tempted by the Beta.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7X-fIFNUm5aK2ZiApKeadx2O4WC91BXTJaU2WQ3ZqOEN1iVPKrRYw4IktCMM1iRxzf_L4-596ytqYa5qklH-cHVFti2qRV6JQSwnX5kmTsczKEIoBQtNtU4wcse7AdVqFZ8vdIuMahA/s1600/pandaria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7X-fIFNUm5aK2ZiApKeadx2O4WC91BXTJaU2WQ3ZqOEN1iVPKrRYw4IktCMM1iRxzf_L4-596ytqYa5qklH-cHVFti2qRV6JQSwnX5kmTsczKEIoBQtNtU4wcse7AdVqFZ8vdIuMahA/s400/pandaria.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken from the official WoW site.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
From what I've seen so far I am incredibly impressed with the quality of the visuals of Mists of Pandaria. It looks simply amazing; the best work that Blizzard has done so far, I think. I would love to experience it first hand and create some stunning <i>Images of Azeroth</i> posts, but time simply is not on my side.<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-70671669913309290112012-02-16T21:44:00.000-06:002012-02-17T12:01:14.474-06:006x6x6: The Challenge of SixesThere is a new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme" target="_blank">meme</a> going around, started this time by <a href="http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/02/15/sixth/" target="_blank">Gnomeageddon</a>. It's the <b>Meme of Sixes</b> and is an interesting one. It turns out this has been around for a long time; a little casual link-surfing took me back to February 2009 and a swedish blog and a photo of a <a href="http://biancabobvi.blogspot.com/2009/02/alla-hjartans-dag-och-utmaning.html" target="_blank">dog cuddling a baby</a>. It's now making the rounds again in the WoW blogosphere and I have been tagged by both Navimie of the <a href="http://frostwolves.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/meme-sixth-gnomeageddons-challenge.html" target="_blank">Daily Frostwolf</a> and Karagena the <a href="http://reluctantraider.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Reluctant Raider</a> to participate in it. It's so nice to be loved.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE RULES</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Go into your image folder</li>
<li>Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.</li>
<li>Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couldn’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).</li>
<li>Challenge six new bloggers.</li>
<li>Link to them.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Of course, those rules are nice. They're simple and easy to do. Honestly, I could have this post done in minutes if I wanted to. But that wouldn't really be in the Battle Medic tradition, now would it?<br />
<br />
So let's complicate things a bit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE BATTLE MEDIC RULE OF SIX BY SIX BY SIX</span><br />
<br />
If there was a TV show for people who are incapable of deleting things on their computer, I would be featured on the premier episode. We'd call it <i>Hard Drive Horders: Buried in Megabytes</i>. I have all sorts of files and images that go back years, and quietly get transferred from hard drive to hard drive as I upgrade and then sit there collecting layers upon layers of virtual dust.<br />
<br />
Consequently, I have many, many folders on my hard drive with images so picking just one doesn't seem quite right. Picking six would make sense, given the nature of this particular challenge, but that might take this innocent little challenge into deep, dark places of my computer that are better left unexplored. Who knows what one might find while picking through the decrepit ruins of my digital projects from the distant past.<br />
<br />
Sounds like fun. Let's get started, shall we?<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#1 - World of Warcraft Screenshots</i> folder</b><b><br /></b><br />
Delving into my WoW Screenshots folder reveals a lot of subfolders. For simplicities sake, the source images of each panorama that I do get their own folder, and the sixth one happens to be <i>Netherstorm</i>. This beautiful panorama was featured in my <i><a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/10/images-of-azeroth-outlands-part-2.html" target="_blank">Images of Azeroth: Outlands Part 2</a></i> post a few months ago.<br />
<br />
However, the sixth image in this sixth folder turns out to be probably the least interesting image on my hard drive.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykCMUBGa0SGegsIr4ZUHd-kpIY9LeKmd-bdLMoxcd_HgsbBvGfQGxVhfHrRTP-wsKt8HlosqqlNtJ1SHj1iFPolMKsvToqpfzUuOPW0lKI74MZM9edTNvVB6NXbOolUvNiz-EpMEMw5w/s1600/Netherstorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhykCMUBGa0SGegsIr4ZUHd-kpIY9LeKmd-bdLMoxcd_HgsbBvGfQGxVhfHrRTP-wsKt8HlosqqlNtJ1SHj1iFPolMKsvToqpfzUuOPW0lKI74MZM9edTNvVB6NXbOolUvNiz-EpMEMw5w/s400/Netherstorm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Yup. Nothin' but purple rocks. It's the sort of scene that makes your computer's video card wonder why the hell it's spending its considerable processing power rendering such a pointless, prosaic set of pixels. There really isn't much you can do with an image like this. Well, unless we decide to make it all about the textures instead of the objects. Hmm... let's try making it a black and white and then playing with the cropping and see what we get.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJF62fTGWRvp7E6jyc20WobWf5Jv5zmfJz_0FJVI6Tfv4Pa3392c8nE7c9G2zfRZzE23ojuZEaGkT1HqmKdkpEAJIS4cn5c7O3MX26fJ5vKX8EDRi1W5h1WouQT-W7ywTvsfMbu3DmpM/s1600/Netherstorm+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJF62fTGWRvp7E6jyc20WobWf5Jv5zmfJz_0FJVI6Tfv4Pa3392c8nE7c9G2zfRZzE23ojuZEaGkT1HqmKdkpEAJIS4cn5c7O3MX26fJ5vKX8EDRi1W5h1WouQT-W7ywTvsfMbu3DmpM/s400/Netherstorm+BW.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
A little bit of creative blurring later, and suddenly we have something interesting and worthy of being featured on <i>Battle Medic</i>. Mind you, it's still not exactly a Monet.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#2 - Screenshots </i>folder:<i> </i>Six Down and Six Across</b><br />
<br />
Ach! This option puts me right in the middle of an unfinished <i>Images of Azeroth</i> panorama that I was saving for a later post.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DHiIiGpxKB3ou1H9cI1np9jByjoPUXyshgNXr8fGuxrJGsT-h-c80B9t5KSNwqDrD5odXZgOxqVgF1cYNS9hfXrd9bzqNIZ64e8b8YJunIa2Uci5hnJkR-7qkIGezcj4rJNPgdgdsRU/s1600/WoWScrnShot_012412_164644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4DHiIiGpxKB3ou1H9cI1np9jByjoPUXyshgNXr8fGuxrJGsT-h-c80B9t5KSNwqDrD5odXZgOxqVgF1cYNS9hfXrd9bzqNIZ64e8b8YJunIa2Uci5hnJkR-7qkIGezcj4rJNPgdgdsRU/s400/WoWScrnShot_012412_164644.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dude, you got your Deathwing all over my Tower. Ewwww.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One unexpected benefit to having a max-level Shaman at my disposal is the ability <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=6196" target="_blank">Far Sight</a>. It gives me options for screenshots that I simply can't do on my Paladin. This image, for instance, was done after completing an End Time run and is a perspective that is not normally available to most other classes because it's half-way up a mountain on a completely vertical slope.<br />
<br />
Look for the full image in an upcoming post.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#3 - Battle Medic</i> sub-folders</b><br />
<br />
The Battle Medic folder contains the very bones of this blog. Each image that I have created for <i>Battle Medic</i>, whether used or not, lies here in a state of perpetual readiness. This folder illustrates my image hoarding tendencies perfectly because I literally have no need for any of the images in this folder; the ones I needed have already been uploaded to the blog and are stored online, and the ones that didn't make the post aren't needed at all. It is an interesting archaeological dig through my blog's past, though.<br />
<br />
The sixth subfolder of the Battle Medic folder happens to house the raw images from the photo shoot that I did with Ophelie of <a href="http://bossypally.wordpress.com/">Bossy Pally and the Giant Spoon</a> back in June. <br />
<br />
Digging through the layers of this folder is a little frightening. One of the fundamental truths that one learns very quickly as a professional photographer is that only about 1 in 10 portraits that are taken is worth keeping. The rest have closed eyes, weird expressions, strange homeless people wandering in the background or some other flaw that necessitates editing that image in favour of another. Randomly picking an image out of this folder could be disastrous.<br />
<br />
As luck would have it, however, the sixth image in this folder was one of my favourites.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9C9-AxqF3L0-uWILlsma1DUWSqDXMDucbdIjscXQILEypv3AO4vmL8KURPPvAuIaS3sMOncJcAUd8GsWy2TStq2mhv_9JjqKxo3K7ox5T_cl31D3mUpfyfVcBlOfz7pu8z6c-kmsgd5s/s1600/Ophelie+Laughing.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9C9-AxqF3L0-uWILlsma1DUWSqDXMDucbdIjscXQILEypv3AO4vmL8KURPPvAuIaS3sMOncJcAUd8GsWy2TStq2mhv_9JjqKxo3K7ox5T_cl31D3mUpfyfVcBlOfz7pu8z6c-kmsgd5s/s320/Ophelie+Laughing.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
As a photographer, an image's success depends as much on your personality as it does the subject's; how people respond to you shows up very clearly in the finished images. A laugh is always photographic gold. I like this image because it feels incredibly <i>genuine</i>.<br />
<br />
The image above is the unaltered version and is just how I took it. Below is the finished image once I was done with it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynYn-fNhOej5YQPNpuD6CkWWkZHLQWYU9Xo1gfEWFCw3HDUTHTclutbdvRUdumpxtUPVPzfy7MFJ-753D_uArsSpDyNsPIWHV9JkuxWDdVEdeAI36NwAy9myHzjJPkV9XfA_LJTge1pc/s1600/ophelie_8559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynYn-fNhOej5YQPNpuD6CkWWkZHLQWYU9Xo1gfEWFCw3HDUTHTclutbdvRUdumpxtUPVPzfy7MFJ-753D_uArsSpDyNsPIWHV9JkuxWDdVEdeAI36NwAy9myHzjJPkV9XfA_LJTge1pc/s320/ophelie_8559.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ophelie, probably laughing at my bad Austin Powers impression,<br />"IGNORE ME DOING THIS! IGNORE ME DOING THIS!"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#4 - Battle Medic </i>folder:<i> </i>Six Down and Six Across</b><br />
<br />
Like I said, I hoard my image files, and this illustrates it perfectly. This Blood Bowl image was pulled off the Cyanaide website for my post <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2012/01/encouraging-infidelity-on-burn-out-and.html" target="_blank">Encouraging Infidelity: On Burn-out and Blood Bowl</a>, and I did use a portion of it in the article. I certainly don't need the full image any longer, so any sane, rational, non-hoarding person would simply delete it and move on. Not I. I kept it.<br />
<br />
But not only that, I ended up keeping <i>two of them</i>. Because of the way that Chrome downloads files (possibly the only thing I don't like about the web browser), I accidentally downloaded an extra one; this is the second one.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_Y4YtpMec4DmiLqdrMHZFRNLuhX4FlrhV9IH-LOP5p5cCkljCBUaByMNB09-T-jRoYfpf4jeugkBqOnp3nYQ_EI9PPDcpRaQoe3vBPbFn4IGqGvxwzT4oLZpBb5lUznzafuKmvXMZNo/s1600/Blood-Bowl-(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_Y4YtpMec4DmiLqdrMHZFRNLuhX4FlrhV9IH-LOP5p5cCkljCBUaByMNB09-T-jRoYfpf4jeugkBqOnp3nYQ_EI9PPDcpRaQoe3vBPbFn4IGqGvxwzT4oLZpBb5lUznzafuKmvXMZNo/s400/Blood-Bowl-(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Some people think Blood Bowl is a matter of life and death. I assure you,<br />
it's much mor... <i>ARRRRRRGHsplorch."</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And my wife wonders why I need to buy hard drives so often. Little does she know... <br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#5 - Artwork </i>folder</b><br />
<br />
The sixth subfolder in my Artwork folder lands us conveniently in the place where I store the finished work of my Portfolio. The sixth image in this folder is one that some of you will be familiar with already, as it was featured during my <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/11/images-of-azeroth-50000-words-850.html" target="_blank">Images of Azeroth: 50,000 Words</a> series of posts.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcVaxxsqdhtH3HlFnOYGsZYqYfS52Jz3jGiC8AcwjCmUr0GJaZXCW510wP0-RsORCVsp4N85iICTJ2j4JDVjbX6_rAEm6ced30QBjOXjRHDLg6KoX0RWV1gHjTlnNHplOzuN7obqouiM/s1600/Sunset_7821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcVaxxsqdhtH3HlFnOYGsZYqYfS52Jz3jGiC8AcwjCmUr0GJaZXCW510wP0-RsORCVsp4N85iICTJ2j4JDVjbX6_rAEm6ced30QBjOXjRHDLg6KoX0RWV1gHjTlnNHplOzuN7obqouiM/s400/Sunset_7821.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sunset in Motion</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course, the <i>actual</i> sixth image in that folder was the printer-ready version of this file which weighed in at a hefty 11 megabytes, so this is obviously a slimmed down version for the blog. I actually gave a 20" x 30" print of this to my sister this Christmas, and it should be hanging on her wall by now.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>#6 - Dwarfling </i>folder</b><br />
<br />
This is what most of you were waiting for, I'm sure. Admit it, you're here for baby photos.<br />
<br />
Of course, I have a folder of images of the Dwarfling. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of images in there. However, the sixth image in the sixth folder is this one:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8M7ziLWwdLOOluv9S3ABuE59os9Te5kPv094HeKGwgCEGXJI44Ge3COgTOCDEN9htf340M5j-9tn9B5Amub2s9uFVJnmqwHb1HfUr9gBxpISGDT0bnrwESJ797gqY6zzB5hLqfiWmI4/s1600/dwarfling_0748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8M7ziLWwdLOOluv9S3ABuE59os9Te5kPv094HeKGwgCEGXJI44Ge3COgTOCDEN9htf340M5j-9tn9B5Amub2s9uFVJnmqwHb1HfUr9gBxpISGDT0bnrwESJ797gqY6zzB5hLqfiWmI4/s320/dwarfling_0748.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dwarfling at 18 Weeks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yikes. My daughter loves the camera and, at least in her father's eyes, is very photogenic. This one, on the other hand, is certainly not her best photo. It was taken by her mother and due to the camera-shake and the rather bizarre, doll-like quality of her expression this image would likely never have seen the light of day if not for this challenge. It would have been deleted except, as I mentioned above, I am an incurable image hoarder. It's times like this it can come and bite me in the ass.<br />
<br />
Here are a couple of better, non-random images of her to keep you all happy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKReNnHLITXHHqSzGsr8uPXTOUaPT1UBIJ0ASxyHSQKKQVv1OEc1yi-JQQ8m1Yuka9jw7JpkG4KgOXOBuRNr5SNt5lU87AezVoZmtMiBmKh9-n-zvkzRwiyWdMjGm0TJVNgJhRO6WdKQ/s1600/dwarfling+at+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKReNnHLITXHHqSzGsr8uPXTOUaPT1UBIJ0ASxyHSQKKQVv1OEc1yi-JQQ8m1Yuka9jw7JpkG4KgOXOBuRNr5SNt5lU87AezVoZmtMiBmKh9-n-zvkzRwiyWdMjGm0TJVNgJhRO6WdKQ/s320/dwarfling+at+one.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One year old...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkSnw4aMrIJmHI20OBO-qBPpS1Mi3FFPCKNPSz_6OysyPJELcNZQFosqEiLQ-64uRVuUFW12sPh4kW663_RleVA9bUtOfG1mNbu-a52EhK2GZoxpIRJFVaL3GDnSscL8XmUsBlQouH5Y/s1600/Teagan+at+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkSnw4aMrIJmHI20OBO-qBPpS1Mi3FFPCKNPSz_6OysyPJELcNZQFosqEiLQ-64uRVuUFW12sPh4kW663_RleVA9bUtOfG1mNbu-a52EhK2GZoxpIRJFVaL3GDnSscL8XmUsBlQouH5Y/s320/Teagan+at+one.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>...and cute as hell.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">PASSING THE TORCH</span><br />
<br />
And in keeping with tradition, I hereby pass the torch along to these fine folk.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Mylindara" target="_blank">Mylindara</a>, my Guild Master and author of the seldom updated <a href="http://cleansing-waters.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cleansing Waters</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/BloodyGneisha" target="_blank">Gneisha</a>, the lovely Ginger of Mountain Top and full of <a href="http://totemlybloody.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Unleashed Rage</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Nymphmage" target="_blank">Nymphy</a> at <a href="http://dethetank.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">DE the Tank</a>, founder of the militant wing of the Dwarfling's Internet Aunties</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Voros" target="_blank">Voros</a>, fellow WoW Panoramist and author of <a href="http://theothertank.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Other Tank</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Corath" target="_blank">Corath</a> of <a href="http://corath.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Corath's Blog</a>, proud new papa of the Spawnling.</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/miss_pewpew" target="_blank">Aidrana</a> of <a href="http://misspewpew.com/" target="_blank">Miss Pew Pew</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-33029395002380768802012-02-15T20:12:00.002-06:002012-02-16T00:50:25.324-06:00An End to MadnessDeathwing is dead.<br />
<br />
Actually, he's been dead for a couple of weeks now. I'm just damned tardy in my progression updates these days.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SqtCW9NrEkn97ho6ysvqp2SkNaZwAfzn-RRmyk9QSx1A2ARb12SvekIYJzNdHGH4RuIBR7b1YWmH23-f9aCCOu-6JLzOWcbLDLefZGq4SlFaSOikzTAy8yrxKBs3aDx1LIsI1ncwNSI/s1600/Mountian+Top+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SqtCW9NrEkn97ho6ysvqp2SkNaZwAfzn-RRmyk9QSx1A2ARb12SvekIYJzNdHGH4RuIBR7b1YWmH23-f9aCCOu-6JLzOWcbLDLefZGq4SlFaSOikzTAy8yrxKBs3aDx1LIsI1ncwNSI/s320/Mountian+Top+Logo.png" width="320" /></a>My guild, Mountain Top, cleared normal Dragon Soul for the first time just before the <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-week-in-raiding-nerf-acceptance.html" target="_blank">5% Power of the Aspects nerf</a> hit at the end of January. Sadly, I wasn't there due to a family crisis, but I'm proud that our guild managed to down Dragon Soul before it's difficulty was reduced. And we managed it despite losing key members of the team and not having a regular raid night.<br />
<br />
Did I mention <a href="http://mountaintop-sargeras.enjin.com/forum/m/1892082/viewthread/1934606-mountain-top-guild-charter" target="_blank">we're recruiting</a>?<br />
<br />
I got my own first Deathwing kill on the first week after the nerfs, and am going in again tonight for my third. We've also begun working on Heroic Morchok, whom we got down to 10% on our first night before time constraints forced us to kill him on normal difficulty so we had enough time left to clear the instance that night.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of this expansion I set a raiding goal for myself; I wanted to clear each raiding tier while it was current, something that I didn't manage to do in Wrath of the Lich King. With Deathwing's demise at the hands of my Shaman I have now managed to accomplish that on the last two of the three raiding tiers this expansion.<br />
<br />
I view Raiding Progression as a very personal thing. As much as I share the accomplishments with my guild and couldn't do it without them, I look at the raid bosses I've downed as my measuring stick as to how well I've experienced the content and how I am personally progressing. I was enormously disappointed that I didn't clear all of Tier 11 while it was current, only going 9/12; I didn't get Nefarian or either of the Throne of the Four Winds encounters down before 4.2 brought the nerfbat to them. Despite that disappointment, I'm very happy to have accomplished what I have done.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSGubvwd89v53R7N9ry2lVCMhOB2xOxhHjpfR4t7n2ArGAIUQC4iplZpvf1_ImlU8SFifXbQYUquKUGuKFLaZ60TDHLDtF1MKZMxMdZEgMzlYbI4yIexE_c1JuzT7KKkt57hFH3f_T4o/s1600/Maelstrom+After+Deathwing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSGubvwd89v53R7N9ry2lVCMhOB2xOxhHjpfR4t7n2ArGAIUQC4iplZpvf1_ImlU8SFifXbQYUquKUGuKFLaZ60TDHLDtF1MKZMxMdZEgMzlYbI4yIexE_c1JuzT7KKkt57hFH3f_T4o/s400/Maelstrom+After+Deathwing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">ON DIFFICULTY</span><br />
<br />
I promised myself that I would not make this post a discussion on the difficulty level but I need to at least mention that compared to Lich King, Nefarian or Ragnaros, Madness of Deathwing was a hell of a lot easier. It didn't take my guild very many attempts to finally kill him. I think I saw about five pulls on normal difficulty before I got my first kill. Even Ragnaros after the savage nerfs that he received seemed more difficult than Madness.<br />
<br />
The question that I pose to you, dear reader, is: Was the Madness of Deathwing encounter inherently easier than previous end boss encounters, or did it simply <i>seem</i> easier because the vast majority of us had already seen and defeated a simplified version of it on the Raid Finder?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-18041512572665488642012-02-06T18:07:00.001-06:002012-07-19T13:38:17.114-05:00On Flexibility, Emotional Attachment and Mister Spock. With Ice Cream!<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Thus, flexibility, as displayed by water, is a sign of life. Rigidity, its opposite, is an indicator of death." - </i>Anthony Lawlor, <i>A Home For The Soul</i></span></blockquote>
Those of you who follow this blog closely and spend just a little too much time obsessing over it (and you know who you are) may have noticed that there has been a distinct lack of Paladin related posts around here recently. In fact, looking back at my archives the last post that talked about Paladins specifically was way back in July.<br />
<br />
There is a good reason for this: I'm not raiding with my Paladin any longer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">A DISCLAIMER</span><br />
<br />
You know, I started this post with the best of intentions: A short, to-the-point post about what I've been up to in WoW and why I'm not posting about or playing my Paladin. Half-way through it turned into something completely different. I guess you and I will both find out what the hell I'm talking about when we get to the end because I have no idea where this is going any more than you do. Maybe there will be Ice Cream and Whisky. Goodness, that would be nice, wouldn't it?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">SHAMAN: <i>The new Battle Medic? At least this one's actually a Dwarf.</i></span><br />
<br />
With Dragon Soul on the PTR, I was approached by our Guild Master who asked me a question that took me by surprise: <i>Would I be willing to switch my raiding main in order to help with raid healing</i>? It turns out that our guild is so full of main-spec Holy Paladins that it is a little bit like a large, overfilled doughnut—taking a bite of which will get Holy Paladin goop all over your shirt. And that shit is hard to get out.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQ1R7dBCxZwWT-MDv6Onil5EdLBpbqRse1LeKzTmqDmN2O11h6XTkmKwmKW4qyYxZ4qogk4asIetLCyFVeAfy7IoB2RDmUyfgd_K7jPPzBzJRpzeOai8CH5DycO96L1sQSa4ZJK5vnME/s1600/Thallie.Waterfall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQ1R7dBCxZwWT-MDv6Onil5EdLBpbqRse1LeKzTmqDmN2O11h6XTkmKwmKW4qyYxZ4qogk4asIetLCyFVeAfy7IoB2RDmUyfgd_K7jPPzBzJRpzeOai8CH5DycO96L1sQSa4ZJK5vnME/s320/Thallie.Waterfall2.jpg" width="320" /></a>In the interests of trying to avoid a 10-man raid with <i>three </i>Holy Paladin healers—which would strain just about anybody's tolerance for egocentrics in a raid, I imagine—I switched my Raiding Main to my (then) newly 85 Restoration Shaman.<br />
<br />
My GM's reasoning was pretty straightforward: Dragon Soul looked to be a very raid healing intensive series of fights and even with the strength of the 4.3 Holy Radiance changes it seemed as if our normal Paladin/Paladin/Priest setup wouldn't be ideal. This was made especially clear when we found that some of the fights would require only two healers, and neither Paladin had a DPS off-spec. My Shaman provided my GM with a different option.<br />
<br />
So, the week before Dragon Soul opened I was running through Firelands, healing on my Shaman. I admit, it felt odd at first. Even though I had levelled her completely through dungeons I was woefully unprepared to take her on a raid. My understanding of the subtleties of the class were at a very basic level, my UI was not set up properly and her gear was, shall we say, <i>eclectic</i>; an odd mix of items cobbled together from every possible source and not powerful enough to even qualify her for the new Looking For Raid feature.<br />
<br />
She's nicely geared now, although there are still some problem spots due to some very bad loot luck in Dragon Soul. I'm not sure why, but in our raids the only Tier Token that ever drops is Vanquisher tokens—we literally had a new Death Knight alt get his 4 piece in a single night, and the only reason he got each token was because <i>all the other Vanquisher eligible players already had theirs</i>. Meanwhile, I, along with a lot of other people in my raid group, are organizing strange voodoo rituals to influence the gods to drop something—<i>anything</i> that we can use. Now, I know that no one really cares about other people's loot problems, but that night made me want to roll a Druid just so I could actually get a drop.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE SPOCK PRINCIPLE: <i>The Needs of the Many, blah blah blah</i></span><br />
<br />
Imagine, if you will, a dwarf lying on a brown leather couch, a worried expression showing through his beard and his armour poking holes in the leather and setting it smouldering because the shoulder piece is on fire, which for some inexplicable reason is perfectly normal. Next to him, seated at a comfortable armchair is a bald man with a white goatee neatly trimmed into a point and a notepad on his lap. He leans over towards the dwarf, and in a thick German accent asks, "Und how doez ziz make you <i>feel</i>?"<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMzzE6y0ok5EIdiMzsBseBQ4fK3aFTkdf8mhD_zPBclmdf9bIIMfyUuQ8wD9L3OGYHiPQy9TXcJkstkdBlnb369xflN8OMNew8GCjfjOxRKaq6NDdDcsEyBbGDTcnjR-3KMl2f49YCWQ/s1600/Morchok.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZMzzE6y0ok5EIdiMzsBseBQ4fK3aFTkdf8mhD_zPBclmdf9bIIMfyUuQ8wD9L3OGYHiPQy9TXcJkstkdBlnb369xflN8OMNew8GCjfjOxRKaq6NDdDcsEyBbGDTcnjR-3KMl2f49YCWQ/s320/Morchok.jpg" width="228" /></a>A long time ago I wrote an article entitled <i><a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-makes-main.html" target="_blank">What Makes a Main?</a>,</i> in which it I talked about the <i>emotional</i> connection to a character as the fundamental element that determines which character would be a person's "Main Character". While that criteria certainly wouldn't apply to everyone (there are people who change their mains constantly due to many different factors, for instance), but it is absolutely true of me. My Holy Paladin is my main because I am emotionally <i>invested</i> in him, both in terms of character as well as the play-style and mythos of the Paladin. My Paladin just feels <i>right</i>.<br />
<br />
So when <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Mylindara">Mylindara</a> asked me to switch for the good of the raid, I felt a little conflicted. From a dispassionate point of view he made a lot of sense because even while temporarily undergeared, my Shaman brought something to the raid that we were lacking. Emotionally, however, my main is still my Paladin, and is the character that I am most interested in playing and progressing. Not only that, but I enjoy healing on the Paladin more than the Shaman.<br />
<br />
So the real question that I, or anyone in a similar situation must ask themselves is: When does the needs of the group trump the desires of the individual? Should we always be selfless in order to help the group, or is it alright to say "No" so we can play the game the way we want to? Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one when the ultimate goal of the game is individual entertainment? What would Spock do?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">FLEXIBILITY: <i>When is it okay to take one for the team?</i></span><br />
<br />
I think the answer greatly depends on what type of player a person is. I believe that there are two extremes to this question where the answer is obvious and unchanging, and then there is a vast grey area in between where a large percentage of the player base sits.<br />
<br />
The <b>Activity-Centric</b> people amongst us will look at this question as absurd because min-maxing every aspect of an encounter is fundamental to their play-style. Changing their character to bring that one extra buff or cooldown to the raid in order to gain any advantage—regardless of how small—is far more important than the attachment to a certain character or class. For them the emotional need is to progress at a personal level, and which character they do it on is only a secondary consideration; a tool used to achieve the desired end.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfma0igTEoM1NPQtjbi84h7b0s9IAClXjFRTPqZewNCX_H9Q9sLgtxFs-iKWVEsQXdMCLGlwEl13nZKjEtevNYWUmvU-aTetWg7o1ahY-AzqqiJHiGPROTKn6EDKPqD6DHM49ySry3Vww/s1600/milo_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfma0igTEoM1NPQtjbi84h7b0s9IAClXjFRTPqZewNCX_H9Q9sLgtxFs-iKWVEsQXdMCLGlwEl13nZKjEtevNYWUmvU-aTetWg7o1ahY-AzqqiJHiGPROTKn6EDKPqD6DHM49ySry3Vww/s1600/milo_sm.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Please don't shoot me"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The other extreme is the <b>Character-Centric</b> people. These folks form an incredibly strong emotional attachment to their characters, and asking them to switch their Main Character—or even to change their character's hair-style—is like asking them to shoot a puppy. It'll break their heart and the aftermath will be very messy to clean up. Not to mention that I like puppies, and well, shooting them is just wrong. I mean, look at those <i>eyes</i>.<br />
<br />
The vast majority of us, I think, fall somewhere in the middle. I have always considered myself more of the activity-centric type, but again, if I am to be truly honest with all of you, I tend to let myself get attached to my characters quite a bit and was a little bit annoyed when I was asked to <i>not</i> bring my preferred character to the main raids. There is a constant battle raging between the two sides when I'm making the decisions as to what to play.<br />
<br />
In the end I made the change and the raid team is the better for it, I think. We have a good core of raiding healers now, with a lot more flexibility than we would have had otherwise. I may not be playing the character I would like, but the decision was right because the <b>activity</b>, in this case, was more important than my personal need to play the <b>character</b>.<br />
<br />
And I suppose that's the fundamental answer to the question of when it's okay to make a personal sacrifice for the team, and the answer is a lot more simple than the length of this post would suggest. Simply put, <b>if the goal is more important than which character accomplishes it, make the change and be happy about it</b>.<br />
<br />
Now, as I'm writing this I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, you've really outdone yourself in stating the blindingly obvious. Should we do a section talking about the different ways water is wet? Way to spend 1400 words talking drivel, dumbass".<br />
<br />
It is a pretty straight-forward concept, but I think that everyone is going to approach it differently and everyone is going to have a different reaction to being asked to change the way they like to play the game. It all depends on the balance between the <i>activity </i>and the <i>character </i>within a person.<br />
<br />
For me, the activity of seeing our raid progress smoothly won the day over my own desires to play the Paladin. So for now at least, the Battle Medic is a Shaman.<br />
<br />
Have you ever been asked to play a class or role that you didn't prefer so your group could move forward? How would you react? What sort of balance to you have?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">OH MY GAWD, WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS POST AGAIN?</span><br />
<br />
Oh yes, Ice Cream and Whisky. Excellent.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQVd5M2H_Zren9FiWlh-r_bOQ8VPqR6Ljzo04X_tkl9eCIJ9Rq8jpXhzoaxacS_0GYaMd5rTJFEDtczyR7C0K7hwkeR5YFH07GWIcHAKRH__MhLVIX4TEAF81uv3m2QYOcZDySIMYcy4/s1600/whisky-ice-cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQVd5M2H_Zren9FiWlh-r_bOQ8VPqR6Ljzo04X_tkl9eCIJ9Rq8jpXhzoaxacS_0GYaMd5rTJFEDtczyR7C0K7hwkeR5YFH07GWIcHAKRH__MhLVIX4TEAF81uv3m2QYOcZDySIMYcy4/s320/whisky-ice-cream.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There ya go. Ice Cream and Whisky all in one.<br />
It doesn't get much better than that.</td></tr>
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<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-16206814204944978602012-01-30T23:38:00.000-06:002012-01-31T10:28:06.495-06:00Images of Azeroth - The Waterfalls of Azshara<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDtqaVsc6rOXtEFmNCL2p0-Qg1PEkkv7mhDDER6yJUxr4q99ws_O1EFoXieJqJOA7zt6qspxqvZCcXG_u54VRddP4exnsP93xvCjsZLxH8Zjpa_XG5_ZED0RlJPCQXyXFrpFlwVvAFrA/s1600/Azshara+Waterfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDtqaVsc6rOXtEFmNCL2p0-Qg1PEkkv7mhDDER6yJUxr4q99ws_O1EFoXieJqJOA7zt6qspxqvZCcXG_u54VRddP4exnsP93xvCjsZLxH8Zjpa_XG5_ZED0RlJPCQXyXFrpFlwVvAFrA/s400/Azshara+Waterfall.jpg" width="187" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DfzFC89B1g4ATaVf4pkMZFiNY0ntaEc9_0fhACbnsHKkepuDSSpZNWrtNMz1_DbDrfHHYCeKlhH5-pjNz8urNxk-7EjR6jkpd-lO7uhpADARL-0k6cJvH1gZ4Kqbwi0WWH52aS6_jQM/s1600/Azshara+Waterfall2.small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DfzFC89B1g4ATaVf4pkMZFiNY0ntaEc9_0fhACbnsHKkepuDSSpZNWrtNMz1_DbDrfHHYCeKlhH5-pjNz8urNxk-7EjR6jkpd-lO7uhpADARL-0k6cJvH1gZ4Kqbwi0WWH52aS6_jQM/s400/Azshara+Waterfall2.small.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNtqYJWqA7x7pwuGW2LCj8MEvl9LHSTu3qRWtFWEfIRruA2NU84wqeRg7irzvqjYCOGlCANYomLvvZ2q-qf7FG5mYrCvP1FfiJKM-fOiY76TK_EfW9Kes-Lva-AXHWEXJuGy1IBCHQJo/s1600/Azshara+Waterfall+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNtqYJWqA7x7pwuGW2LCj8MEvl9LHSTu3qRWtFWEfIRruA2NU84wqeRg7irzvqjYCOGlCANYomLvvZ2q-qf7FG5mYrCvP1FfiJKM-fOiY76TK_EfW9Kes-Lva-AXHWEXJuGy1IBCHQJo/s400/Azshara+Waterfall+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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These images were requested by <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/NavimieDruid" target="_blank">Navimie</a>, the author of <a href="http://frostwolves.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Daily Frostwolf</a>. She mentioned to me during my <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/search/label/IntPiPoMo" target="_blank">IntPiPoMo</a> run that she had never been able to screenshot the waterfalls of Azshara to her liking. She asked me if I could give it a try.</div>
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This was at the end of November. I'm a little tardy.</div>
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Still, here they are in all their splendor. I admit, these buggers were hard to properly photograph. They're friggin' big and don't really fit into a screenshot terribly well. I had to get creative with the angles that I was using, and each image is a panorama of anywhere from 12 to 20 different screen shots. But I'm really happy with the drama and grandeur of these images. The first one is a particular favourite.</div>
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Going forward I hope to include image requests into future <i>Images of Azeroth</i> posts. I realize that I spend a lot of time in the Eastern Kingdoms, and so those images seem to dominate these posts. I hope that you folks can point me in a direction that I wouldn't normally think of. </div>
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So, what would you like to see featured here? Leave your requests in the comments.</div>
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As always, click the images to embiggen.</div>
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More <i><a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/search/label/Images%20of%20Azeroth">Images of Azeroth</a>.</i></div>
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</div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-47443160808417570242012-01-25T18:42:00.001-06:002012-01-25T18:54:31.356-06:00Scribblings of the Clueless Noob<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life."</i> - Henry David Thoreau</span></blockquote>
Earlier this month I wrote <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2012/01/encouraging-infidelity-on-burn-out-and.html" target="_blank">a rather long essay on the feelings of burn-out</a> that I've been dealing with lately in which I offered ten different things to do to combat them. For those of you with the fortitude to actually read through all 3300 words, I congratulate you; that post was a monster.<br />
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Like many people, I don't always follow my own advice. As I was writing that post and thinking about the different things I could do to clear my head and find a happy place with WoW again, I realized that at the time I wasn't really doing any of them. Oh sure, I was playing a different game and taking a bit of a break—which was what the post was all about, after all—but the other things I talked about were merely theoretical. So I figured that I should put a few of those ideas into practice and see what happened.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">SCRIBBLING ON THE CAVE WALL</span><br />
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I'm not sure anyone has noticed but I have been on a bit of a posting renaissance lately. This post marks the fourth post in January, two more than I managed in the whole of October, and I still have two more posts that I would like to get done this month. It seems as if my brain has a WoW infection and has been using my fingers to vomit all over my blog. Gross.<br />
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I started out this year with the idea of getting <i>Battle Medic </i>back to where I'd like it to be by posting smaller posts more frequently. Ideally I'd like to get back to doing about ten to twelve posts per month, so the frequency is better but still not where I would like it. The <i>length</i>, on the other hand, I've failed utterly and completely. So far in 2012 (not including this post), I have written over <i>5700 words</i> and seem completely incapable of keeping a post under 1000. I guess we'll see how this one turns out, although with the amount of things that seems to get added in as I go I'm not hopeful—I'm already at 400!<br />
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Either way, writing about WoW is a wonderfully self-sustaining process. I've got more to write about WoW because I've been writing about WoW, which in turn makes me more interested in WoW and makes it easier to write about WoW. It's a positive feedback loop that has done wonders in making me feel better.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">LOOK AT ME! I'M THE CLUELESS NOOB AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DPS CHART</span><br />
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Virtually every second of my WoW experience at maximum level has been spent healing. My first max-level character was a healing priest, the main that I ended Wrath with was my Holy Paladin and now, as Cataclysm draws to a close I've added a Resto Shaman to the mix as well. I love healing, and I have no plans to stop doing it any time soon, but in retrospect, my entire WoW career has been extraordinarily one-dimensional.<br />
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Oh sure, I've fooled around with other roles. I even managed to get my warrior tank into a couple of raids back in Wrath—an experiment that ended rather badly, I might add. Retribution, likewise, was used for levelling and then discarded upon reaching level 85. My Paladin has been unable to kill anything efficiently by himself ever since. I am the guy that always hears, "Oh, Fannon's on so we've got a healer" when he logs into Mumble. Simply put, healing has been the absolute focus of my attention for a long time now. And even as experienced as I am I still find it challenging and realized there is a lot for me to learn and improve upon.<br />
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However, doing the same thing for two years can get a bit monotonous. Imagine eating the same sandwich for lunch everyday for two years; I don't think you'd end up looking forward to the noon hour if that same damned ham on pumpernickel with yellow mustard was the only option. I think at least some of the reason that I was feeling burnt-out in the first place was because every time I was in a group setting I was doing the same thing that I always did.<br />
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And so I decided to do something completely different—for me, at least. I dusted off my badly geared, poorly understood Enhancement off-spec on my Shaman and took it for a spin in some dungeons and the raid finder.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZnWZ0auouBhg2nxKiqGUYzXW3l8ES6npASezWxgEwkt0ZO_cAHTSjSXyCVR6kMAUc58sL7YTBqkg3T5wsVzyvIORFq-qVNz8k8rA7ejmxR75aVILNMkhgYRLZHRwkLn2EVMsnSX7nfU/s1600/Thallie_enhancement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZnWZ0auouBhg2nxKiqGUYzXW3l8ES6npASezWxgEwkt0ZO_cAHTSjSXyCVR6kMAUc58sL7YTBqkg3T5wsVzyvIORFq-qVNz8k8rA7ejmxR75aVILNMkhgYRLZHRwkLn2EVMsnSX7nfU/s200/Thallie_enhancement.jpg" width="200" /></a>Oh my, what a different world. As a healer, I have the luxury to say away from the boss where it's relatively quiet and I can play undisturbed. Not possible in melee range. It's wonderfully chaotic; at times the sheer amount of spell effects that are going off completely obscure both the mob I'm hitting and my character. It feels odd trusting the health of the party to someone else, and I get damned nervous when my health dips. But then I realize that I'm only DPS, so I'm expendable, which makes me giggle to myself and want to hit the boss even harder.<br />
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I suck at it though. Yes, I am that noob at the bottom of the DPS meters in that heroic you're doing. Yes, I am in <i>your </i>dungeon group wearing <i>that </i>gear, horrible as it is. You'd better believe that I'm the one standing in fire or accidentally pulling mobs or doing any one of a hundred things that would make me pull my hair out if I were healing me. Yup, that's me.<br />
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And yes, I'm laughing the whole time I'm doing it. Sorry.<br />
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But I'm really enjoying whacking things with my giant beer steins. I'm enjoying the new challenge and the new responsibilities (or lack thereof) that come with dealing damage. It's given me something completely different to look forward to when I log into the game.<br />
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I'm still raiding as a healer, and it will always be my first, passionate love. But, if I can encourage infidelity to the game itself, why not cheat on my preferred role, too?<br />
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After all, unlike real life, in the gaming world, monogamy isn't good for the soul.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This post weighs in at 1029 words (not including the opening quote or this postscript). Close enough to call this one a win for brevity.</i></span></blockquote>
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-34738929782228333802012-01-19T18:55:00.000-06:002012-01-19T20:03:31.823-06:00This Week in Raiding: Nerf Acceptance... Sort of<div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate."</i> - Socrates</span></blockquote>
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Yesterday, Blizzard announced that Dragon Soul would receive the <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/4326384/Dragon_Soul_Difficulty_Changes-1_18_2012#blog">first of a series of progressive Nerfs, starting on January 31st</a>. They are starting with a 5% reduction in health and damage dealt to all mobs in the instance. As well, there will be a way to toggle the Nerfs off, similar to how Icecrown Citadel's buff worked.<br />
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Now, I'm sure that many of you are thinking to yourself, "Oh shit, here he goes again. Another vitriol filled post about how much nerfs sucks and how they're ruining the game. Where's the fucking exit?"<br />
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Well, stick around; I don't plan on spewing any Nerf hate today. No sir, not me. Nuh-uh.<br />
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Now, while I'm no fan of Nerfs (as you may recall <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-raiding-disapointment-open-letter-to.html" target="_blank">from this post from September</a>), I am in a zen-like state of acceptance with this round of adjustments for a couple of different reasons:<br />
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Firstly, Blizzard approached these changes differently than previously in that they made no attempt to hide the fact that they were coming. Even before Dragon Soul was released on the live servers, the developers told us that they would be nerfed at some point. As well, they are giving us almost two weeks of notice before they come into effect. Contrast this approach with the sudden onset of the Firelands changes and it makes them a lot easier to accept.<br />
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Secondly, they are gradual. Looking again at Firelands, the nerfs that were implemented were savage in their scope and extraordinarily sudden in their implementation. Such is not the case with Dragon Soul. Starting with a 5% reduction in all damage and health is reasonable and won't have such a jarring effect as the Firelands changes did. Dragon Soul will not turn into pale shadow of itself overnight; the adjustment period will be slow as the nerfs are gradually but progressively increased over the next few months.<br />
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Thirdly, they can be completely turned off to experience the fights at full difficulty. This brings back the successful buff system that Blizzard put into place for ICC, whereby talking to an NPC will turn off the Nerfs so a raid group can see the fights at full difficulty. This is a tiny bone to the hardcore players out there in an attempt to keep them happy by giving them the option to make the instance the original difficulty.<br />
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However, while it's nice to have I doubt this feature will ever be used—even by the extreme hardcore amongst us. And the reason is that there is no benefit to turning off the buffs other than self-satisfaction. With no way to tell whether a boss was killed with the Nerf on or off, any boss kill after the nerfs are implemented are tainted from a progression standpoint. I can say that I am 7/7 in Firelands, but anyone can look at the date of my Ragnaros achievement and see that it occurred after the Great Nerfening of September. That kill is valued less on a potential guild application than it would be if it had been done the week before. Dragon Soul will be the same.<br />
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Lastly, Dragon Soul normal modes are easy enough that it felt nerfed right from the beginning. So in that context, what does another Nerf matter? It's hard to get upset when something goes from easy to slightly easier.<br />
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I do have some questions though:<br />
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<b>Why a raid-wide nerf? </b>I don't think that a raid-wide buff was needed, honestly. Some of the bosses in normal modes could certainly use some tweaking: Zon'ozz, Ultraxion and Warmaster Blackhorn being the three that gave our raid team the most trouble. I sincerely believe that it's better to balance specific fights that are overtuned rather than nerf the entire instance. If a specific encounter is tuned such that the majority of people with the appropriate gear level cannot beat the encounter then by all means it should be re-balanced to bring it in line, but I feel the raid-wide approach is a bit like using a jackhammer to open a can of beans.<br />
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<b>Why so fast?</b> If, as Blizzard says, these Nerfs are being implemented because Raid Groups are hitting <i>"brick walls"</i> and not progressing, we now can gauge exactly what pace Blizzard expects their content to be cleared. These nerfs are appearing <b>9 weeks</b> after Dragon Soul launched, meaning that <b>Blizzard expects raiders to clear one boss per week at minimum before it considers them <i>"stalled"</i></b>. Apparently, wiping on a boss for several weeks is now considered <i>"hitting the wall"</i> and <i>"getting stuck on progression"</i> and thereby grounds for nerfing the instance. Whereas in previous expansions wiping on a boss repeatedly was called <i>"figuring out how to do shit"</i> and an essential part of the learning process.<br />
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As with Firelands (which was nerfed in 12 weeks, giving slightly less than two weeks per boss), Blizzard isn't giving us enough time to figure things out. They continuously make more difficult and more elaborate dances in their encounters and are continually cutting short the time we have to learn them before getting heavy-handed with the nerfbat.<br />
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Kurn wrote an excellent article talking about the Dragon Soul nerfs and goes into a lot more detail on the timelines that previous instances have see in regards to difficulty changes. Check it out here: <a href="http://kurn.apotheosis-now.com/?p=2156" target="_blank">A Sigh of Resignation</a>. She seems... uh... a little more angry about these nerfs than I am.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">I AM THE PLAYER THESE NERFS ARE FOR</span><br />
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Matthew Rossi of WoW Insider <a href="http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/19/ol-grumpy-and-the-dragon-soul-nerf/" target="_blank">shares an interesting statistic</a>:<br />
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<i>The Raid Finder is head and shoulders above normal mode raiding in terms of popularity. 35% of level 85 players have completed Raid Finder vs. 4% completing normal mode; that's a huge, huge shift. Keep in mind that Blizzard has more exacting statistics available internally, but this serves as an indicator of a trend.</i></blockquote>
On the surface, that is a shocking number. It seems like a <i>lot</i> of people have jumped in the Raid Finder at one point or another and have succeeded in killing Deathwing, far more than have done it on Normal difficulty. A 29% difference is significant, certainly, but let's think about this for a moment.<br />
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First of all, the statistic is for those players who have <i>completed</i> Dragon Soul by defeating the Madness of Deathwing encounter, something that can be done in the Raid Finder in an hour or two. Normal modes require a <i>significantly larger</i> investment in time, so it's not surprising that fewer people have completed it. Not only that, but divergent schedules of the raiders and other factors that aren't a concern in LFR can lead to slower progress. Nerfs can't fix that problem.<br />
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I don't know about your guild, but ours hasn't had enough time to even pull the Madness of Deathwing encounter yet after only 7 weeks of raiding, and yet I don't feel that we've hit a roadblock in our progression. In fact, at 7/8 I had thought we were making damned good progress towards our goal—until I heard about these nerfs that is. Now it seems that we're behind the curve and require some divine intervention from the developers.<br />
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I think Blizzard is making the classic mistake of underestimating it's user base. We're a resilient, intelligent bunch of people who are very good at figuring out what to do to get an encounter down given enough time.<br />
<br />
I would be very interesting to see just how far people are getting in Dragon Soul without the nerfs. If 4% of level 85 characters have cleared Dragon Soul on normal, how many have gone 7/8 like me? How many are 4/8 and stuck on Ultraxion? How many are 2/8 and stuck on Zon'ozz? How many people just need more <i>time</i> to clear 8/8?<br />
<br />
If specific encounters can be found that are causing the majority of the problems, then adjust those encounters to help those that are stuck and let the rest of us get back to work.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">LEARNING TO ACCEPT REALITY</span><br />
<br />
Frankly, I've come to accept that the days of the exquisitely difficult raid encounter are gone for good. No more will a raid encounter stubbornly refuse to yield to a dedicated and prepared raid group because the developers were feeling really evil when they designed it and just made that particular boss a massive son-of-a-bitch. The hard work, preparation and min-maxing that those encounters required are an out-dated mindset, apparently. And the raiders who enjoyed that type of challenge—the smart, resilient problem-solvers who think figuring out a problem is half the fun—are continually being marginalized.<br />
<br />
If Blizzard feels that the raid is difficult enough that it is preventing people from completing it, then they should do what they feel is in the best interests of the health of their game. I can accept that.<br />
<br />
Really, I don't much care what difficulty baseline Blizzard wants to set for it's raids. Whether it's incredibly hard, ridiculously easy or walking a fine tight-rope in between, I just want to complete the raid at the same difficulty level as the top-end guilds and everyone else. I don't want help and I don't want charity.<br />
<br />
I'm not trying to sound elitist here. I don't consider myself a hardcore raider by any stretch of the imagination. I don't spend hours thinking about my spec or my gear or where I need to stand during an encounter. I have never run a gearing simulation and wouldn't know how to use a spreadsheet to tell me anything about WoW at all. All I do is show up and push buttons and dodge the fire until the boss dies.<br />
<br />
If the fights are legitimately too hard, I'm all for nerfing them carefully and thoughtfully until they provide a good balance between challenge and accessibility to everyone. Everyone deserves to be able to play all aspects of this game, including Normal Mode raiding.<br />
<br />
But I hope the developers never forget that there is a benefit to hard work. We as human beings learn from failure more than success. And while making raids simpler and easier is a good way to increase the overall number of raiders, allowing people to fail every once in a while—to truly have to work at something before succeeding—will make them <i>better</i> raiders.<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-67534629939556488922012-01-18T23:56:00.000-06:002012-01-18T23:56:31.702-06:00Cross Realm Raiding and Crystal Ball Gazing<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br />“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”</i> - Norman Maclean</span></blockquote>
<div>
Looming quite close, just over the metaphorical digital horizon, is <a href="http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/4270421/World_of_Warcraft_PTR_Patch_432_Notes-1_12_2012" target="_blank">Patch 4.3.2</a>. A minor patch with a few tweaks, a few fixes and one new feature that, had it come a year ago, would have sent the WoW community into a frothy orgy of excitement: <a href="http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/cross-realm-raids-coming-in-patch-4-3-2/" target="_blank">Cross-Realm Raiding</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
People have been clamouring for the ability to Raid with their friends on different servers for ages, and it seemed like an idea that was inevitable ever since the cross-realm Looking For Dungeon system was introduced in Patch 3.3. And, of course, Patch 4.3 introduced the Looking For Raid system which allows raiding Dragon Soul with random cross-server people at a unique difficulty level. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But what LFR does not address is the ability to form Raids to tackle normal and heroic difficulty modes with people who are not on your server. And while the current raid tier, Dragon Soul, will not be available initially, that's what this new Cross-Realm Raid system is designed to do.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">KINDA LIKE KISSING YOUR SISTER</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Unfortunately, excluding Dragon Soul leaves me a bit underwhelmed with cross-realm raiding. There will be no scouring Twitter to find a last minute replacement to fill in for your Mage who is being rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning leaving you one short for your regular raid night. No cross-server guild partnerships to form a 25-man raid out of two 10-man guilds. No Dragon Soul All-Star Raiding Dream Teams will form up spontaneously to crush the heroic modes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkwOJnNaStrhCh_VNriWHFB8sFwZXSOgs1MoMxgFqBfQ-nWb9OL8vf43kvdjfQ1zYF1V4emcOkR-uxK7c6c9sIdQs5hReMN5KvHYPVceoMghFl6JTmdBMVjfk9SM7lA66BXRrLEVc2wI/s1600/Madness+of+Deathwing+Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkwOJnNaStrhCh_VNriWHFB8sFwZXSOgs1MoMxgFqBfQ-nWb9OL8vf43kvdjfQ1zYF1V4emcOkR-uxK7c6c9sIdQs5hReMN5KvHYPVceoMghFl6JTmdBMVjfk9SM7lA66BXRrLEVc2wI/s320/Madness+of+Deathwing+Portrait.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait of a Pissed-off Dragon Aspect</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
No, without the ability to run the current raid in a cross-server group, this feature will be an afterthought, and is probably the reason that it seems to have been welcomed by the WoW community with a resounding wave of <i>meh</i>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What it <i>can </i>be used for is to join LFR with a larger group than was previously available (yes, it's Dragon Soul, but only the watered down version), join a Battleground as a premade group, and to run through older tiers of raiding content.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Very useful stuff, and I think that the Battlegrounds feature especially will be used a lot. However, the system will never live up to it's potential until the current raid tier is able to be done with a cross-realm group. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I can only speculate as to why they decided not to include it. Perhaps they felt that it would dilute the value of guilds. Maybe Blizzard didn't want people instantly transported to the raid instance as they are with LFR, thereby preserving the one, final reason people have for actually leaving the capital cities. It's possible as well that there is a technical reason, too, but most likely Blizzard decided to exclude Dragon Soul for a gameplay or balance reason.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Regardless, it seems that Blizzard is taking the cross-realm capabilities of WoW very seriously, and I imagine that seeing cross-realm raiding with no restrictions is only a matter of time. Which is great. I really look forward to the days ahead where the entire WoW population (faction permitting, of course) is at my disposal when I need to fill a hole in a raid. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">INSULATION FROM ISOLATION</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, once cross-realm raiding of current content goes live, how long until we have cross-realm mail? Cross-realm chat channels? Cross-realm universal auction houses? And eventually, are cross-realm guilds possible?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am just indulging in some wild and completely unsupported speculation here, as Cross-Realm Guilds are certainly not a feature that anyone has even hinted at being on the horizon, but it seems as if it would be the next logical step in the direction that Blizzard is taking us. It would pretty much remove all the remaining barriers between the various different Realms and create a single cohesive WoW population. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If this truly is the direction that Blizzard is moving, it may serve to be a very clever way to prolong the games life.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I think that it is clear that after being at the absolute top of the MMO world since 2004, there are more days behind WoW than there are in front of it, at least as the biggest and most relevant of the genre. Don't get me wrong, I don't think WoW is going to die any time soon, but I don't think it's possible that any game—even this one—has 14 years of staying power. Times change, games change, new games come out. Such is the way of the world as so will it be for WoW.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is a certainty that at some point WoW will start to diminish in terms of active players. It will be slow and subtle but will eventually leave some servers as ghost towns, their capital cities echoing with the unheard cries of NPCs trying vainly to add colour to an empty world. I've always believed that the first definitive sign that WoW is truly on the downward slope is when Blizzard starts consolidating servers in order to keep the population of active players high enough to be viable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, what does it matter if your server is virtually abandoned if your guild is spread-out over 20 or 30 different servers? While it would be rather odd to go to Stormwind (or whatever the hang-out <i>du jour</i> is in the distant WoW future I'm describing) and have it deserted save for a single, lone naked Night Elf dancing on the mailbox, as long as there are enough people online on some server <i>somewhere </i>to do the group activities the game will have the appearance of vitality.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And in the end, in order for a game to survive it has to still be fun to play. WoW without people isn't fun. And the perception that there are loads of other people around ready to do something with is critical for any MMO to stay alive and vibrant. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To that end, the cross-realm features that Blizzard has implemented, as well as those we can speculate that they <i>might </i>implement at some point are great steps to unify and enlarge the pool of players that a person can interact and play with, which will help the game survive and prosper for longer than it might otherwise. And as someone who plans to play this game for a long while yet, I think that is a great thing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej6gVUj59x82gCQRqLPmq2B3YWWL3dNiSMyZtdyFZL8LaRd0tJnTOA_EqfgQq2454GK8VrQbVFGwJBUInk84tCN9qB2BWqiVNpFjGvbne8Q_6SoH0bqz77thYRLKBBJdzLCV0ITkFeZA/s1600/Deathwing+Flying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej6gVUj59x82gCQRqLPmq2B3YWWL3dNiSMyZtdyFZL8LaRd0tJnTOA_EqfgQq2454GK8VrQbVFGwJBUInk84tCN9qB2BWqiVNpFjGvbne8Q_6SoH0bqz77thYRLKBBJdzLCV0ITkFeZA/s400/Deathwing+Flying.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-85567860234092316452012-01-12T17:48:00.000-06:002012-01-13T18:47:52.309-06:00Encouraging Infidelity: On Burn-Out and Blood Bowl<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"The universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. There is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it."</i> ― Terry Pratchett</span></blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I was in high school, O those many years ago, my best friend and I would spend countless hours in my basement sitting on our billiards table playing games. It was an old, heavy commercial pool table, originally used in some bar somewhere, and very sturdy. We would sit on it—inadvertently destroying the felt in the process—and endlessly play a game that captured my imagination fully and completely. The game was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl">Blood Bowl</a>; a tabletop fantasy football miniatures game from <a href="http://www.games-workshop.com/" target="_blank">Games Workshop</a>. It was (and still is) a game of mayhem and bloodshed, all about the unfettered joy of bashing the living hell out of someone all in the name of good fun.</div>
<div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaTbuYjq3gf3ftLReX-zAprXDB_j5619xnVzJCNV9RLQhT6npdBrA7oVujG5ejY-PSPTvG8kQg6SOcDCvqzewLtnDs75W1jtgnR-rdNMGt5yLThcSwMEC94HUlYpQ5sVmYKnkfK4DDwI/s1600/blood_bowl_icon_a_by_gimilkhor-d3cy1c5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaTbuYjq3gf3ftLReX-zAprXDB_j5619xnVzJCNV9RLQhT6npdBrA7oVujG5ejY-PSPTvG8kQg6SOcDCvqzewLtnDs75W1jtgnR-rdNMGt5yLThcSwMEC94HUlYpQ5sVmYKnkfK4DDwI/s1600/blood_bowl_icon_a_by_gimilkhor-d3cy1c5.png" /></a>Back then I was completely hooked on Blood Bowl and pulled my friend Mike along with me. We had a large league just for the two of us, and we played literally hundreds of games against each other. I kept detailed statistics, agonized for hours trying to come up with names for new characters to replace fallen players and created logos and back-stories for my teams and players.<br />
<br />
Yes, I was a massive Blood Bowl geek. Needless to say I didn't have a girlfriend at the time.<br />
<br />
Still, the time I spend with <a href="http://mikejozic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Mike</a> playing Blood Bowl was well spent. An absurdly high number of inside-jokes were created on the top of that billiards table and each square of that polystyrene pitch that we played on has a great memory attached to it—often involving the death of some innocent Goblin or Halfling who unwisely chose to try his hand at football one afternoon. In fact, the phrase, "squit like a pimple" was used often to describe the precise way that a Halfling dies when faced with a large, angry Ogre. A lot of these jokes have stuck with me, and thinking about any one of them can send me into a giggle fit. The name <a href="http://blues.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8452018" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Steve Tuttle</a>, for instance, cannot be spoken around me unless you want our conversation to be cut short by a lot of frantic chortling. Best not to ask why.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE WHEREABOUTS OF A CERTAIN DWARF</span><br />
<br />
Why am I writing about this on <i>Battle Medic</i>, an unashamed WoW-centric blog? Clearly, reminiscing about games played during high school has no relevance to slinging healing spells during Spine of Deathwing, right?<br />
<br />
However, the excitement that Blood Bowl filled me with has only ever been matched by one game: World of Warcraft. When I first started playing WoW it engulfed my imagination like nothing else had since those long lost days on the pool table, and in my excitement I yearned to learn everything I could about the game; to get a deep, fundamental understanding of everything that Azeroth contained. This blog is the result of that passion.<br />
<br />
Lately, though, I have been feeling a little tired of WoW. Looking at the character selection screen made me feel like I was going to work―doing something I had to do, not necessarily something that I wanted to do. Obviously, that is a counterproductive feeling towards a recreational activity. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is to go to another job. I want to have fun, damn it.<br />
<br />
Now, please don't misunderstand me, <b>I am not quitting World of Warcraft</b>. Far from it, actually. I am still raiding regularly, and my guild and I are progressing nicely. In fact, on Monday night, Mountain Top went into Dragon Soul and managed to down 7/8 in a mere three hours. Aside from a couple of hiccoughs on Zon'ozz, it was a very smooth raid, really. But I wasn't truly <i>excited</i> about it. Not like I was when we got the good Majordomo down, nor did I feel the exhilaration of when Cho'gall fell for the first time. It was just... something to do.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHnV1FQEsTAiOeOzD38whiH1Nn6Es_72HrnBQb-e1OLNbFnrJGLDpy5mshB_gWLw2Nhdce4pZjCMCO69GWuVbsluGaBhAu5wIECt_YEhLPLnEtA7pvEX1pAtYTW8JLx438u1B-_1dKxA/s1600/Blood_Bowl_PC_03_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHnV1FQEsTAiOeOzD38whiH1Nn6Es_72HrnBQb-e1OLNbFnrJGLDpy5mshB_gWLw2Nhdce4pZjCMCO69GWuVbsluGaBhAu5wIECt_YEhLPLnEtA7pvEX1pAtYTW8JLx438u1B-_1dKxA/s320/Blood_Bowl_PC_03_600x450.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dwarven cheerleaders come prepared<br />
with their own kegs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I contrast this to the joy that I felt playing WoW when I first started raiding, and there is definitely something missing. This was crystallized in my mind over the New Year holidays when I installed a new game to try out: The video game version of the game that absorbed so much of my youth, <a href="http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/" target="_blank">Blood Bowl</a>. When I tried it for the first time on New Year's day, I was enthralled. All those old feelings and memories came flooding back and I remembered what being truly <i>excited</i> about a game felt like. And I also realized that it had been a while since I sincerely felt that way about WoW.<br />
<br />
<i>(Then again, he thinks, as his silly Dwarf team fumbles the bloody ball yet again, this damned game is the stupidest, most frustrating, damned, arrrrrrgh, fargin' greasy bastich son of a ...)</i><br />
<br />
Burn-out is a mental state. I think it happens when one perceives that the effort expended to do a task becomes greater than the reward one expects to receive upon it's completion. Considering that the reward for playing WoW are intangible things such as relaxation, enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment, it's a tricky thing to gauge. At what point do I think that my playing time could be better spent doing something else?<br />
<br />
WoW is an interesting game in the sense that it becomes somewhat like a relationship. Time needs to be spent to maintain the relationship or else it will begin to decay—manifested by characters falling behind in progression, gear or daily quest rewards and the like. The more developed the relationship becomes the greater the feeling of obligation to maintain the relationship. For me, at least, it's this sense of obligation that has contributed more than anything to my burn-out.<br />
<br />
And I don't know about anyone else, but WoW is unique in that, like a relationship, it creates a feeling of monogamy unlike any game I've ever played before. The notion that the characters in the game need to be constantly maintained leads to the feeling that playing anything else is like cheating on your spouse. I think this is the reason that a lot of WoW players get upset when their fellows begin dating another game such as <i>Rift </i>or <i>Star Wars: The Old Republic</i>. Faithful spouses are the ones that are most likely to look down upon infidelity. Frankly, this idea is kind of insane; it's just a game after all.<br />
<br />
I think it's normal and unavoidable that after doing an activity like playing WoW for a long, continuous period of time to feel less enthusiastic about it than when it was fresh and new. I've been playing it to the exclusion of just about anything else for over three and a half years now, and at least for me, right now, the lustre of the game has worn off a bit.<br />
<br />
And given that it's unrealistic to play the same game for three years and still remain as excited about it as when it was new, yet not wanting to give up on it, means that I need to manage my feelings of disinterest.<br />
<br />
I have been giving some thought as to what can be done to take a break from WoW, get refreshed and get one's mojo back while still maintaining the relationship.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">FIVE THINGS TO DO IN A GAME THAT YOU'RE BURNED OUT ON</span><br />
<br />
<b>1) SET A GOAL THAT YOU WANT TO DO, NOT THAT YOU <i>HAVE</i> TO DO</b><br />
<br />
The first step for me is to remove the feeling of <i style="font-weight: bold;">obligation</i>. I want to play the game because I <i>want </i>to play it, not because I <i>have </i>to play it. During the Firelands patch the prospect of grinding out a month of dailies was an incredibly unappealing thought that made me want to think twice about logging in until eventually I just stopped doing them and felt a lot better. Same goes for capping Valor Points; it's something that is nice if I can do it, but if I don't manage it every week I'm not going to fret about it.<br />
<br />
Once I realize that I don't need to play if I don't want to, I need to find a goal that makes me want to log in. I realize how much stuff that I haven't actually seen or done in the game, so there are lots of potential goals or achievements to go for. For instance, I decided that I wanted to get Jeeves for my engineer, and while it was a grind to try and get the recipe, I actually enjoyed the process knowing that the reward at the end would be something that I and my raid team would find extraordinarily useful.<br />
<br />
Make the goals small and doable in easily accomplished chunks. There is no point in taking on a task with a grand scale that will simply increase the feeling of obligation or force you to quit before it's done. Failure to accomplish a goal will only make the burn-out worse.<br />
<br />
<b>2) DO SOMETHING IN GAME YOU'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE</b><br />
<br />
While there are some people who have been playing this game so long that they have literally done and seen everything, I cannot even begin to list all the things that I have yet to do. I have never levelled a horde character past level 15, and there are whole zones that I have never experienced other than riding through to get the explorer achievement. PVP is still more-or-less a mystery to me. There are more than a few raids I haven't seen, and I really haven't raided seriously in any role other than as a healer. I could go on as the list is extensive.<br />
<br />
When burnt-out from doing the things that one normally does, it's time to change it up. Find something—anything that you haven't done before and try it out. The worst thing that can happen is that you won't like it.<br />
<br />
<b>3) INTRODUCE SOMEONE NEW TO THE GAME</b><br />
<br />
Enthusiasm is very infectious; if it caused sneezes it would be considered a Level 4 Biohazard and very serious men in very serious suits from very serious government agencies would be present to monitor the situation any time a 13 year-old girl told her friend about Justin Beiber in case a pandemic broke out and doomed the Earth. It's serious shit.<br />
<br />
It's interesting to see a game that I'm so intimately familiar with through the eyes of someone new to the game. I watch my young nephew play, for instance, and am amazed at the things that he finds interesting and fun. Fishing, for instance, is tremendously entertaining for him. And he would happily have his character swim for hours in the rivers and lakes. Seeing the things that he finds interesting and fun is fascinating, and allows me to see the game through the eyes of a 9 year-old.<br />
<br />
So try finding someone who hasn't played the game before and show it to them. Even if they don't go and pick up a copy, show them how to play and let them give it a try. Sharing their experiences as they see things for the first time is a fantastic way to rediscover the magic yourself.<br />
<br />
Alternately, help someone learn to do something that they don't know how to do. Try showing a guildmate the ropes of a role they don't often do. I have often found that they best way to discover new ways to do something is to try to teach another person how to do it. It can be a lot of fun, and is very rewarding.<br />
<br />
<b>4) BE MORE SOCIAL WHILE PLAYING</b><br />
<br />
It cannot be argued that the most compelling feature of any MMO has nothing to do with graphics or quests or gameplay, but rather in the people that play the game. Whenever I log onto WoW and see our guild chat silent, it's a little bit deflating. I love lively chatter, and having a fun conversation is a great way to get me in a great mood.<br />
<br />
Meeting and talking with someone new is a great way to reinvigorate interest in an MMO, and can potentially expose you to a different way of thinking about it. There are literally thousands upon thousands of potential friends online at any particular moment; all it takes is a little bit of effort to meet them.<br />
<br />
<b>5) TALK ABOUT IT. WRITE ABOUT IT. SCRIBBLE SOMETHING ON CAVE WALLS USING CHARCOAL ABOUT IT</b><br />
<br />
There are a gazillion support groups out there for just about every conceivable problem that a person can possibly have, and they work. Talking about feelings and problems with people who share them is a great way to begin to get a grip on them.<br />
<br />
So talk about how you're feeling about the game. There are any number of places you can do it: Post on forums; comment on blogs (like this one!); write a blog or hell, even talk about it in trade chat if you're desperate. The point is, don't keep it bottled up. You'll feel better. Honest.<br />
<br />
As a blogger, <i>Battle Medic </i>has been my outlet for a lot of things when it comes to WoW. This post has been wonderfully cathartic in getting some of this stuff off my chest and feeling better about this game. I plan to do this more often, and focus more on the things I really enjoy about this game.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">FIVE THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THE THING YOU LIKE TO DO BUT REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING</span><br />
<br />
I think I may need to tweak that title somewhat. It's not exactly pithy, is it?<br />
<br />
There comes a point when it's just time to get the hell out of dodge for a while and actually take a break. Even though I don't plan to quit WoW any time soon, the past week or so of not really playing WoW very much has been nice. A little distance has been a very nice thing, indeed, and I'm starting to feel the irresistible urge to return to the sunny shores of Azeroth.<br />
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So what can be done to take a break from the game and reinvigorate the gamer's soul?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDJqiTvbRM-o61fwpXYdSsgQSa7Fo5ZHDWs6kxIsetwc65DQXUYPxsLgvqDTRIaEP_675nyecyYq8-Df-2RWn4aPVHz6O3EEjUhIXB1hdnT63PWQvo9xJKtl9E7c4NTNKBooAdQQnLXQ/s1600/Blood-Bowl-%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDJqiTvbRM-o61fwpXYdSsgQSa7Fo5ZHDWs6kxIsetwc65DQXUYPxsLgvqDTRIaEP_675nyecyYq8-Df-2RWn4aPVHz6O3EEjUhIXB1hdnT63PWQvo9xJKtl9E7c4NTNKBooAdQQnLXQ/s400/Blood-Bowl-%25281%2529.jpg" width="172" /></a><b>1) PLAY SOMETHING ELSE FOR A WHILE</b><br />
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Feelings of infidelity aside, there is no reason why <i>anybody </i>needs to be a monogamous gamer. WoW's feelings won't be hurt if you start seeing something else on the side, regardless of whether it's a single player game or another MMO. I flirted with <i>Lord of the Rings Online</i> for an afternoon, and other people have dived into other games head first, and through it all WoW has soldiered on and is always ready to take back it's players who have strayed. Variety, as they say, is the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spice%20weasel" target="_blank">spice weasel</a> of Neptunian cooking.<br />
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Games—all games—are a lot of fun. Over Christmas my Dad and I played a game of Tiger Woods golf on his Wii (the fact that my father has a gaming console and I don't felt a little odd, honestly). As we were starting up the game he said, "I didn't take you for a golfer."<br />
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My reply was simple, "I'm not a golfer, Dad. I'm a <i>gamer</i>. Let's rock." And despite the horrifically bad slice in my golf swing, we had a blast that night (and the whisky helped, certainly).<br />
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Exclusively playing a single game—even one as vast and deep as WoW—is very limiting. Expand your horizons and try something new. You may find, as I have, that cheating on your game may just remind you of why you fell in love with it initially.<br />
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In fact, it was cheating on Warcraft that inspired me to start writing this post. The days I spent transfixed to my computer pitting eleven stout Dwarven footballers against enemies on the Blood Bowl pitch were so exciting and so much fun that I was reminded of why I play games in the first place.<br />
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<b>2) DO SOMETHING CREATIVE</b><br />
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Of course, there is more to life than gaming. Sacrilegious, I know, but perhaps the best thing to do when you're burnt-out on a games is simply not to play anything.<br />
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For me, whenever I'm feeling in a rut or depressed, I find that doing something creative will always lift my spirits. Writing, for one, is a phenomenally powerful power-scrub for my brain, and always helps me regain my emotional balance. Likewise, spending some time working and playing with photographs is always good for my soul, like eating a bucket of chocolate at Halloween.<br />
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Personally, I find that doing something that allows me to flex my creative muscles—especially if it produces something tangible, like a finished print I can hang on my wall—is a tremendous stress reliever. I don't ever do it often enough for my liking, but I always feel better after I'm done.<br />
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<b>3) GET SOME EXERCISE, SLACKER</b><br />
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I am the single worst person you could ever imagine to give this advice given that I am one of the most sedentary people on the planet, but physical activity is a perfect way to change the switch in your brain from the CRANKY BASTARD mode to the ULTIMATELY CALM CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE setting. It's good for the body and the mind.<br />
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Every Friday during the winter my wife and I go <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling" target="_blank">Curling</a>. I always feel emotionally recharged when I get off the ice, especially if I've had to sweep hard and am physically drained. There is just something purifying about getting a good sweat on, especially if it is then followed up by a pitcher of lager at the bar that's attached to the rink.<br />
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Yes, I know, it's not the most effective diet and work-out plan. This could explain why I don't ever lose weight.<br />
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<b>4) READ A BOOK</b><br />
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Likewise, giving the mind a workout is equally good for the spirit. Plopping down in front of a cozy fire, or on the couch with a glass of wine and a great book is a wonderful way to change your attitude. It always works for me. It's very peaceful, very zen, and allows me to put my mind in neutral and forget about all the crap that I have to deal with during the day.<br />
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Of course, when the Dwarfling insists that she wants some attention and oh my doesn't that book look like a fun thing to grab and see if it fits in her mouth means that I seldom get time for this particular option these days. But any chance I get to steal a bit of time to plant my face between two pages, I take it.<br />
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<b>5) SPEND TIME WITH PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE YOU</b><br />
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The final, most obvious and infinitely most effective tip I have to combat burn-out is this: Go spend time with someone that puts you in a good mood. Hang out with your buddies, get a hug from your wife or a cute Holy Paladin that drops by your house occasionally, go play with your kid or even chase the dogs around the backyard. Just find someone who makes you smile and let them do the hard work of cheering you up.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">BURN OUT IS A REVERSIBLE STATE OF MIND</span><br />
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Feeling burnt-out on WoW is an emotional state that can be reversed. Any of these tips can be utilized to get yourself in a better mood and back to doing what you want to be doing. The real trick is, and one that can't be answered by anyone but yourself, is to figure out what you <i>really </i>want to be doing. There is no point in forcing yourself to play a game you no longer find fun.<br />
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However, I think that most of us still enjoy World of Warcraft and don't want to leave the game permanently. I think it boils down to giving yourself permission to do something else, to remove the pressure of needing to maintain the high maintenance WoW relationship, and allow yourself the freedom to do other things.<br />
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Go ahead, cheat on WoW with another game or with your family. Take a step back from your sense of obligation and take it easy for a while. I think you'll find it will still be there when you have the urge to come back.<br />
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And I think that you will want to come back. It's been two weeks for me and I already do.<br />
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<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-44168563815963893292011-12-25T09:00:00.000-06:002011-12-28T01:22:09.764-06:00Secret Santa: The Fellowship of Gamers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy Holidays from Thespius, over at <a href="http://healerbynature.wordpress.com/">Healer By Nature</a>! As a recent transplant into the Star Wars universe, and also as a WoW player for 5 years, I thought it would be great to remind everyone that we're all gamers with a passion for what we do. Especially those of us that blog, read, podcast, or more!<br />
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I sincerely hope your holiday season grants you lots of love and happiness with family and friends, be they in person or in game! I wish the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=20217">Blessing of Kings</a> on you and yours. Bond with nature; be bestowed with the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1126">Mark of the Wild</a>. Let the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=974">Earth Shield</a> you from harm and negativity. Look to the new year with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=21562">Fortitude</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47517">Grace</a>! Look to your friends in times of need as they offer you a <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1022">Hand of Protection</a>. For the spiritual, sing your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=64843">Divine Hymn</a> to those you believe in, and find <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=740">Tranquility</a> in that <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=64901">Hymn of Hope</a>. Swallow your pride, find <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=47540">Penance</a>, enabling your <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51558">Ancestral Awakening</a> and <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=7328">Redemption</a>. And finally, from the home of the Dwarven Battle Medic, let the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=73920">Healing Rain</a> down on your allies! And...umm.... <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=62618">Power Word: Barrier</a>..... Let us all...<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This post is part of the <a href="http://blogazeroth.com/index.php" target="_blank">Blog Azeroth</a> <a href="http://blogazeroth.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3087" target="_blank">Furtive Father Winter</a> event where bloggers exchange holiday themed posts in a Secret Santa-style, RNG-determined blog ring. My gift-giver, I was delighted to discover, is Thespius of the blog <a href="http://healerbynature.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Healer by Nature</a>. I have heard a lot about Thespius in my many conversations with his WoW guildmate, <a href="http://bossypally.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Opehlie</a>, and am very happy to publish his gift post this holiday season on Battle Medic! Thanks, Thespius!</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>You can read the article that I wrote for <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/redcowrise" target="_blank">Akabeko</a> at <a href="http://redcowrise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Red Cow Rise</a> entitled </i><a href="http://redcowrise.blogspot.com/2011/12/one-winters-veil-morning.html" target="_blank">One Winter's Veil Morning...</a></span><br />
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<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-16525248882585547592011-12-21T13:40:00.000-06:002011-12-21T18:44:08.560-06:00Inconvenience, Entitlement and The Abominable Greench<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"You're a mean one, Mister Grinch..."</i></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitM4-V0YgIawrvqNA2zoKyu6HvtA2sHEDAjGo7uq6mMStIe_doVQtBECVI6zQrYuGxw_bI5D2tJ2GByE1CepvFUE6vkFUr7_AtbZuuOMc2b-8D5-IJdNWmhJp9WeK2RSC1VhZXBTO8E9g/s1600/Winterveiltree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitM4-V0YgIawrvqNA2zoKyu6HvtA2sHEDAjGo7uq6mMStIe_doVQtBECVI6zQrYuGxw_bI5D2tJ2GByE1CepvFUE6vkFUr7_AtbZuuOMc2b-8D5-IJdNWmhJp9WeK2RSC1VhZXBTO8E9g/s320/Winterveiltree.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Wie treu sind deine Blätter!</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Nein, auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Wie treu sind deine Blätter!</i></span></div>
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As in the real world, Azeroth is crazy busy with holidays this time of year. The <a href="http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=198662/feast-of-winter-veil-december-15-january-2-guide" target="_blank">Feast of Winter Veil</a> is upon us and brings with it many new and interesting things to do. New dailies, lore and as with most of the holidays we have a big bad boss to fight for a chance at some holiday themed loot.<br />
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This Winter Veil is threatened by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/npc=13602/the-abominable-greench" target="_blank">The Abominable Greench</a>, who has stolen presents and other holiday goodies, hoarding them in his cave in the Alterac Mountains. There, adventurers must gather to defeat this implacable monster with a taste for Grandma's fruitcake. At stake, the very fate of Winter Veil itself.<br />
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Okay, that might be exaggerating things somewhat. The world will likely not end if Little Johnny doesn't get his toy train. But still, ooooo, The Big Bad Greench. Scary.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">INCONVENIENCE AND ENTITLEMENT</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it<br />You play the guitar on the MTV</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>That ain't workin' that's the way you do it</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Money for nothin' and your chicks for free" - Money for Nothing, </i>Dire Straits</span><br />
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What is different with this years holiday boss is that the Greench is not available through the Dungeon Finder as the other holidays bosses have been. During Brewfest all you needed to do in order to defeat the wicked Coren Direbrew is to press the I button and you would be instantly transported to his location with a party of fellows to help you dispatch the fiend and collect your goodies. With The Greench, however, a long flight (for Alliance folk, anyway) to the Alterac Mountains is in order, and then the long wait in hopes you can find other people there to help you kill him.<br />
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Compared to past holiday events, this is inconvenient. Blizzard obviously has the technology to automate the Greench destruction process, but chose not to. Probably due to the fact that the Greench does not or could not be made to exist in an existing dungeon and the developers likely didn't want to spend the manpower and resources to create an instanced version of Alterac specifically for the Greench. There are more important things for the developers to work on after all, like fixing the silly Mature Language Filter bug that doesn't allow me to express myself with my accustomed colour and wit in Guild Chat.<br />
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These thoughts occurred to me as I was hovering over the Greench's cave, admiring his 3.4 Million health and the beautifully wrapped presents dangling from his horns. I was annoyed. Annoyed that I had to spend ten or fifteen minutes just getting there, and then finding no one to group with to get the boss kill and save Winter Veil. I was annoyed at the simple <i>inconvenience</i> of not having this boss kill handed to me as previous holiday bosses had been.<br />
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Needless to say, that is a terrible attitude to have. It's a sense of e<i>ntitlement</i>; that everything should be easy and convenient and require virtually no real effort. Money for nothing indeed - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_for_Nothing_(song)" target="_blank">Mark Knopfler</a>, you are truly the great prophet of our time.<br />
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As I was sitting and waiting for enough people to show up so that a group could be formed I started thinking about how easy everything has been made in WoW. The Dungeon Finder, the Raid Finder, the ease of levelling and so on. <b>I don't want to complain about these things, because honestly I think they are very important changes and overall very beneficial to the game</b>. The Dungeon Finder revolutionized the accessibility of dungeons and heroics, and the new Raid Finder is doing the same thing with Raiding. These are all great things. <i>Easy </i>is not necessarily <i>bad</i>.<br />
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However, what all these systems have done is create an <i>expectation</i> that things will always be that simple. And in those few moments as I was waiting, I started thinking about what my expectations were and frankly, just how spoiled I have become because of all of the great, time-saving convenience gifts that Blizzard has given us over the past couple of years. And the fact that <i>this time</i> I had to do things the old fashioned way suddenly didn't seem like such a big deal.<br />
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Still, it bothered me. Am I, and by extension the WoW playerbase as a whole, so <i>spoiled</i> that we can't handle a little inconvenience? Are we so used to getting everything we want, right when we want it that we can't deal with even the littlest setback? Are we forever in the days when a single wipe in LFD or LFR means that the group breaks up and everyone goes back to their little personal corner of Stormwind or Orgrimmar complaining at just how bad and impatient everyone <i>else </i>is. Is that really where we are?<br />
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<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCE OF INCONVENIENCE</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwh9l2M5vVAkZiGyz5vLnDfQ5GR7nhW7VVLHBbtGQgDldDT3koC57EuDJM5K8V9cm3NY8aMHAY0CAtUIUb1RyXW5CXl8icK6bIwDlq4a16Wii_d5IAXOS1GGdfQByws9ozNQWjwkuAbE/s1600/greench.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwh9l2M5vVAkZiGyz5vLnDfQ5GR7nhW7VVLHBbtGQgDldDT3koC57EuDJM5K8V9cm3NY8aMHAY0CAtUIUb1RyXW5CXl8icK6bIwDlq4a16Wii_d5IAXOS1GGdfQByws9ozNQWjwkuAbE/s200/greench.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=198662/feast-of-winter-veil-december-15-january-2-guide" target="_blank">All your presents are belong to us. Rawr.</a></i><br />
<i>Note the self-satisfied smirk.</i></td></tr>
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So there I am: Up in the air on my flying mount thinking all these profound thoughts on the nature of entitlement and humanity, all the while the Greench is still down there needing to be killed. That's when something magical happened that would never have been possible if the encounter was set up through the Dungeon Finder.<br />
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Waiting with me were two other Alliance players and on the other side of the snow covered mountain plateau were hovering two Hordies. On a PVP server such as mine, situations like this can get messy, and involve a lot of running back from the graveyard as the factions fight amongst themselves and no one manages to get anything done. It was a standoff, with no one daring to pull the boss in fear that the other faction would attack from behind.<br />
<br />
Suddenly, someone unexpectedly pulled the Greench and without a single word or indication, everyone there attacked the boss and left each other alone. We fought the Greench together; Horde and Alliance, fighting alongside one another getting something done in the spirit of the season.<br />
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Soon the Greench died to our collective, cross-faction efforts, and there was a great deal of /bowing, /waving and an overall general feeling of seasonal cheer and camaraderie, not unlike the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce" target="_blank">temporary seasonal armistices</a> between Allied and German soldiers during the bitter trench warfare of World War I. And like those weary soldiers in the battered fields of France a century ago, no one wanted a war - the Alliance and the Horde players that were there just simply wanted to be able to celebrate the season (in this case the seasonal achievement) in peace. Which is what this season is all about, isn't it?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCE OF INCONVENIENCE</span><br />
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Well, not always, of course. Stories like that are the exception. More likely, if a soldier was to stroll out into No Man's Land - Christmas or no - he'd be shot before the second verse of Silent Night. But no one remembers the second verse anyway, so it's probably for the best.<br />
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When I went to kill the Greench on my Shaman, Thallie, it was a bit of a different story. As I got there, I noticed that there were a large number of skeletons in front of him, and I swear that the bugger had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. I figured that perhaps some unwise souls had tried to solo him, with fairly predictable results.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SqtCW9NrEkn97ho6ysvqp2SkNaZwAfzn-RRmyk9QSx1A2ARb12SvekIYJzNdHGH4RuIBR7b1YWmH23-f9aCCOu-6JLzOWcbLDLefZGq4SlFaSOikzTAy8yrxKBs3aDx1LIsI1ncwNSI/s1600/Mountian+Top+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SqtCW9NrEkn97ho6ysvqp2SkNaZwAfzn-RRmyk9QSx1A2ARb12SvekIYJzNdHGH4RuIBR7b1YWmH23-f9aCCOu-6JLzOWcbLDLefZGq4SlFaSOikzTAy8yrxKBs3aDx1LIsI1ncwNSI/s320/Mountian+Top+Logo.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Go Go Mountain Top Vengeance Squad!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, not quite.<br />
<br />
As it turns out, a Horde hunter was hiding in the cave, sniping people as they attempted to fight the boss. He managed to kill me a few times as before I got fed up and had enough. Obviously, the spirit of the season did something nasty to this guy's eggnog and he wasn't exactly in a giving or charitable mood.<br />
<br />
So I did what any self-respecting, non-PVPing healer would do: I called in the reinforcements.<br />
<br />
Within three minutes, I had 3 hardcore PVP specced guildies zoned in and hunting for this guy. If there is one thing my guild is extraordinarily good at, it's raining fiery vengeance on any player foolish enough to ambush one of our guild in the world. Within a few moments we had showed him the other, much more violent side of seasonal cheer.<br />
<br />
It just goes to show that magical season of fellowship or no, some people are just inherently douchebags.<br />
<br />
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Winter's Veil from Dwarven Battle Medic! And honour any unofficial armistices lest we not forget the guild banner that gets planted in your buttocks. Happy Holidays!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-11668929307441551082011-12-14T15:11:00.000-06:002011-12-15T00:59:56.485-06:00One Year Later...<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">“<i>And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.</i>” - Abraham Lincoln </span></blockquote>
One year ago Sunday, I was sitting in my office at work. It was a cold, snowy, miserable Saturday in December, ensuring that only the bravest and most motivated customers would dare visit the lot. In an attempt to stave off a level of boredom that would have resulted in me falling asleep at my desk, I started casually fooling around with Blogger to see if I could find a blog design that would catch my eye. An hour and a half later, I had the basic look that you see here now (unless you're on a feedreader) and my first post up. The rest, as they say, is history.<br />
<br />
I've talked before about what motivated me to <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-two-creating-battle-medic.html" target="_blank">begin writing <i>Battle Medic</i></a>, <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-seven-why-this-is-dwarven-battle.html" target="_blank">why I chose the name</a> and <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-ten-blog-and-website-favourites.html" target="_blank">who my influences were</a> - all really excellent topics for an anniversary post, but I'm not going to go into all that again. But I have been doing some pondering on my experiences and feelings about this whole blogging thing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">SOME VITAL STATISTICS</span><br />
<br />
Because I'm sure there are people out there dying to know...<br />
<br />
Over the past year, as of this writing <i>Battle Medic</i> has seen over 41,500 pageviews according to Blogspot's statistic's page. The best month I had was June with 6,136 views. As well, I have a good number of subscribers to my feed, although I don't really have an accurate way to track that. Google Reader tells me that 188 people are subscribed to the blog.<br />
<br />
4 of my Top 5 all-time posts in terms of traffic are unsurprisingly due to being linked by the 800 pound gorilla of the WoW blogosphere, <a href="http://wow.joystiq.com/" target="_blank">WoW Insider</a>, which always results in a 20-fold increase in traffic for a day or two. However, the post that is hanging on in fifth place is my most controversial post, but also the one that I am most proud of writing: <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-raiding-disapointment-open-letter-to.html">On Raiding Disappointment: An Open Letter to Blizzard</a>. Although some people didn't agree with the content of the post, I think that in terms of the way in which the ideas are expressed it is my most powerful bit of writing. I'm glad that it's managing to hold on to a top spot, despite not being linked by WoW Insider.<br />
<br />
I'd like to give a shout-out to my top referrers while I'm at it. WoW Insider is, of course, the site that has sent me the most traffic, although it's not as extreme as you might think. <a href="http://blessingofkings.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blessing of Kings</a> - the big daddy of Paladin blogs - is second, even beating Google. It appears that a lot of you use Rohan's Blog Roll to find your way here, and I credit getting listed on his site as what really got <i>Battle Medic</i> off the ground in terms of traffic and exposure. Thanks, Rohan! <a href="http://www.orcisharmyknife.com/" target="_blank">Orcish Army Knife</a>, <a href="http://bossypally.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Bossy Pally and the Giant Spoon</a> round out the top referrers.<br />
<br />
I am extremely proud that Battle Medic is listed on so many Blog Rolls around the blogosphere, and I thank everyone who thinks enough of my writing that they would add me to their site. It's a thrill every time I run across a blog that I'm unfamiliar with and see my blog listed there as something that they read and recommend.<br />
<br />
All told, I have been extremely satisfied with the amount of people that are seeing what I write.<br />
<br />
Traffic, however, is not that important if the people visiting are not finding the content engaging, and the only way to really know what you, the reader is thinking is the comments. There are a lot of reasons why a person wouldn't write a comment, but the only thing that is going to make someone (especially someone viewing a post in a reader) to stop what they're doing and respond to a post is if it has a compelling message. Agree with me or not, I value every single comment that I have received on <i>Battle Medic</i>, and over the course of the past year people have commented 572 times on the blog. Now I just need to be better at responding to them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">IMPRESSIONS AFTER THE FIRST YEAR</span><br />
<br />
I can honestly say that <i>Battle Medic</i> has not quite turned out the way I anticipated. Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of the posts that I have written, but I hoped that it would have turned into more of a <a href="http://kurn.apotheosis-now.com/" target="_blank">Kurn-esque</a> resource blog rather than the personal game journal that it is now. While I would like to do more analytical posts, I think one of the most important lessons that I learned is that while those how-to and resource posts bring in a lot of views from the search engines, regular readers are more interested in what a blogger thinks about something. It's the personal opinions and viewpoints that keep bringing readers back.<br />
<br />
That idea has shaped the evolution of <i>Battle Medic</i> more than anything.<br />
<br />
Well, aside from the Dwarfling. I've written about this numerous times - it's almost to the point of getting quite stale - but my life, and consequently my ability to focus on my blog, has changed remarkably since I started a year ago. There have been far too many of the "I'm tired, no time to write" posts for my liking. The last thing I want is to turn this post into another of those, but the Dwarfling certainly has had a big effect on my posting and gameplay.<br />
<br />
Still, I have enjoyed writing this blog more than I ever would have thought possible. Before starting it, I didn't realize how much I enjoyed the process and creative release of writing. More importantly, though, I didn't realize that I had something to <i>say</i>. I have opinions on this game and my experiences playing it, and I had no idea that there was a burning need to express them until I started writing about them. It's made me think about the game quite differently.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">COMMUNITY</span><br />
<br />
Writing a blog is fun, but interacting with the readers is much more rewarding. It's that interaction that begins to build a community, and the WoW Blogging community is great. It's diverse, engaging and very supportive. I don't think there would be much point in blogging in a void.<br />
<br />
Everyone I talk to, whether it be on Twitter, forums or through comments, has been amazing. Support, advice and sympathy have been offered whenever I've been feeling like a grumpy Dwarf, and congratulations are never in short supply when something good happens. And, of course, there is nothing that will generate conversation and comments like posting a picture of the Dwarfling; the internet certainly seems to be taken with her.<br />
<br />
I was planning on doing a list of people who have been influential to me and the blog and thank them, but honestly, there are far too many to list. The post would either get too long (it already is... this was supposed to be a short post!), or I would end up forgetting someone important, and I would hate to do that.<br />
<br />
However, if you are reading this blog regularly, I thank you. I appreciate how special it is that someone takes time out of their day to read the drivel that I spew onto the interwebs. I hope that what I write is informative, enlightening or at the very least entertaining.<br />
<br />
If you have ever commented on <i>Battle Medic</i>, I thank you. Believe me, I know how hard it is to comment on a post. Personally, I find it much harder to write an interesting comment than I do an interesting article. Know that each and every comment, regardless of whether I get off my tuckus to respond to it or not is read and appreciated. In fact, I get a shiver of anticipation every time I see that there is a new one.<br />
<br />
If we have ever interacted on Twitter, I thank you. I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon quite late - I still haven't had one year on that yet - but I have a really good number of followers. In my wildest dreams I didn't think that there would be <i>that</i> many people interested in what I have to say.<br />
<br />
If you are a blogger and have added me to your Blog Roll, I thank you. If you've ever ReTweeted, linked or written a response to one of my posts, I thank you.<br />
<br />
If I have influenced you in some way - to start a blog, join Twitter, think about screenshots differently, or even to ditch all the other races in favour of the <i>clearly superior </i>Dwarves - I thank you. I write this blog for myself, but to know that there are people out there who enjoy what I write enough that it inspired them to do something themselves is very satisfying. I'm glad I could help, and I thank you for valuing what I do here.<br />
<br />
And if you read this blog and didn't like it, well, I thank you anyway. Honestly, I get a lot of positive feedback here (the WoW blogosphere is very supportive), and I would love to get some idea of what I'm doing wrong. So thank you for all the constructive criticism in advance.<br />
<br />
There... I think that covers just about everyone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">THE FUTURE OF BATTLE MEDIC</span><br />
<br />
Back on that blustery day last December when I pushed the <i>Publish</i> button for the first time, I had no idea whether I would enjoy blogging or whether I would keep up with it. So many of the projects that I take on start out so brilliantly and then fizzle into a small, grey lump of nothing, and I'm glad that I've managed to keep <i>Battle Medic</i> as active as I have, given the circumstances.<br />
<br />
I will continue to write this blog as long as there are people reading it. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to increase the frequency of the posting around here, as it's been much quieter than I'd like since August. I look forward to writing another of these posts next year!<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592230822295048656.post-6513263757945058832011-12-02T11:32:00.001-06:002011-12-10T13:11:27.048-06:00The Proof is in the Search TermsYesterday I posted my <a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-week-in-raiding-dragon-soul-first.html" target="_blank">first impressions of the new Dragon Soul raid</a>. It seems as though I am not alone in my fears that the level of difficulty is a little too far on the easy side; Twitter and the Blogosphere have been abuzz with debate about it.<br />
<br />
However, bloggers and tweeters are not necessarily indicative of how the average WoW player reacts to the game. Even though I in no way consider myself a hardcore raider, just the fact that I write a blog means that I'm probably more hardcore about the game than the average player. I tend to read a lot and think a lot about the game.<br />
<br />
So what does the non-blogger, non-twitterer think?<br />
<br />
Well, there really is no way to know for sure. But we do have a way to see what people are asking the search engines, or at least see what questions are leading people <i>here</i>.<br />
<br />
Here are some of the Search queries that have lead people to Battle Medic since the <i><a href="http://battlemedic.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-week-in-raiding-dragon-soul-first.html" target="_blank">First Impressions</a></i> post:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><i><b>dragon soul easiest raid ever</b></i></li>
<li><i><b>dragon soul easy -demon</b></i></li>
<li><i>dragon soul raid boss encounters</i></li>
<li><i>dragon soul sared lot</i></li>
<li><i>random ride drop in dragonsoul</i></li>
<li><i><b>zandalari heroics harder than dragon soul</b></i></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Clearly, this is an issue that is on the mind of a lot of people. The proof, as it were, is in the Search Terms.<br />
<br />
As well, I thought I would share this one because it gave me a chuckle:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><i>a beacon of light hit my face when i say welcome to th</i></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
I would really like to know what he said to get a Beacon of Light in the face. We may never know. I bet it hurt, though.<br />
<br />
<i>UPDATE:</i> <i>Upon closer inspection of my Google Analytics, I managed to find the full search term from above: </i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><i>a beacon of light hit my face when i say welcome to the dwarf race!</i></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<i>I'm still completely mystified as to why someone would type that into Google or what they were hoping to find, but in the event that this suddenly turns into the new, fashionable search-term de jour, I am at the top of the results. Go me!</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">2ND NIGHT IMPRESSIONS OF DRAGON SOUL</span><br />
<br />
We went back to Dragon Soul last night to see how far we could get. As I suspected, our Raid Night was cut short again by Real Life issues. All told, over the two nights that we raided this week we managed a mere 4 1/2 hours total. Still, we got a fourth boss down last night and despite some add-on issues managed a few good pulls on Ultraxion.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMph974fCUWLRYSQrHD8rkYICZLtVK1r2UPE8WR-PMj7MrcNXDUzaqQFb2dqDoCHaL3Krfu4fLA96k9OJWLaNDWmiPVNsnFox_C3S1EptrPOA_yC6j0ZRbQdA06QHufoHSCnA2KXaxQBY/s1600/ultraxion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMph974fCUWLRYSQrHD8rkYICZLtVK1r2UPE8WR-PMj7MrcNXDUzaqQFb2dqDoCHaL3Krfu4fLA96k9OJWLaNDWmiPVNsnFox_C3S1EptrPOA_yC6j0ZRbQdA06QHufoHSCnA2KXaxQBY/s320/ultraxion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultraxion <i>(Image courtesy <a href="http://wowpedia.org/">wowpedia.org</a>)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To put things in perspective, it took us approximately 8 to 10 hours of raiding - in which we attempted 3 different bosses - to get our first kill in Firelands.<br />
<br />
Our average pace in Firelands before the nerfs was to get one new boss down per week, excepting the first and last kills which took longer. Getting half of the new raid down in half the time it took us to kill one boss in the previous tier is a little alarming.<br />
<br />
It's not as if we overgear the new raid, either. We're not loaded up with heroic Firelands gear; most of our raid team have 378 gear, and a few have even less than that. This week I was asked to bring my Shaman instead of my Paladin main in order to help with raid healing. My Shaman has a grand total of 3 raid kills to her name and wasn't even eligible for Looking For Raid based on the item level of her gear - not to mention that I don't have a lot of experience healing with her. At least two others in the group have a similar level of gear.<br />
<br />
However, the level of difficulty does seem to climb as we get into the second part of the raid. Ultraxion is no joke. Timing is tricky, DPS requirements are high and everyone - particularly the healers - needs to know exactly what they're doing in order to get him down. And that trash before him is quite brutal in an <i>oh-my-gawd-why-won't-this-end</i> kind of way.<br />
<br />
I'm actually glad that we encountered some resistance. I still think we'll be through Normal Modes very quickly, but at least a few of these bosses have some fight in them so as to make it interesting.<br />
<br />
I just wish we could get a raid group together for a decent amount of time in a night.<br />
<br />
<br />Fannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17113088072985141570noreply@blogger.com8